


the dream that you wish

by theboyfriendstagram



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Bottom Louis, Disney World & Disneyland, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Jealous Louis, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sort Of, and harry's prince charming, louis is peter pan of course, oh here we go, what else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 09:40:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17241905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theboyfriendstagram/pseuds/theboyfriendstagram
Summary: Disneyland!AU where the park's Peter Pan is rumoured to be fooling around with Prince Charming in the castle. There's also Baymax desperately trying to capture the heart of Pooh Bear while shift manager boyfriends Niall and Shawn are tired of watching it all go down in the happiest place on Earth.or a (sort of) self-indulgent AU with a lot of Disney, misunderstandings and oblivious people in the city of love.





	the dream that you wish

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bubblegumclouds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblegumclouds/gifts).



> This took a really long time to finish due to so many interferences such as family, uni, exams, etc, but I am SO proud to finally share it! I absolutely loved the plot idea so this is why it's over 20k and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I enjoyed writing it! 
> 
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**Warnings: there's mentions of anxiety and a really short mention about Johannah and Robin's passings, may their beautiful souls rest in peace ♡**

\---- 

“You look _absolutely_ ridiculous.” Louis says on Thursday morning, as soon as he enters the crew changing room. 

“And you’re absolutely late.” Zayn retorts as he tries to get himself into his giant white Baymax costume. He’s halfway done with his everyday morning struggle: fitting himself into what Louis would call (and usually does) an ‘extremely white sumo costume with a robot head’.

Louis cackles at the sight. “Do you want me to help you with your zipper or not?”

The defeated sigh coming from Zayn’s lips is all the confirmation he needs before he drops his Nike duffle bag and goes to help his friend zip up his costume.

“Why did I sign up for this again?” Zayn asks as he takes the Baymax head and holds it up at his side. Or at least, tries to.

“Because a month ago it was the best paying summer job option and it’s _Paris_ , Zayn. Fucking Paris.” Louis tells him and opens his locker to get his Peter Pan costume out.

“Yeah, but I wanted to be Aladdin. I didn’t sign up to be Baymax. You can’t even see my face in this.”

“Aw babe, everyone knows you have a beautiful face.” Louis sarcastically coos as he toes off his Vans.

“Why do you get to show off your moneymaker but I don’t?” Zayn pouts as he watches Louis take off his skinnies and get into his green Peter Pan thighs.

“Are you calling me ugly?”

Zayn rolls his eyes and grabs his cigarette pack. They always go for a smoke before their six-hour shift starts, but this time Louis is later than usual which means they’ll have to be quick. It’s ten minutes to twelve.

“Why are you so cranky today? Did Pooh not say hello to you today?” Louis teases, because he knows exactly what to say to get Zayn all riled up and frustrated.

Pooh, for the record, is portrayed by Liam Payne, a hunky guy, also from England, who, by just looking at him, would seem the exact opposite of Winnie the Pooh. He’s tall, lean, and has sleeve tattoos on both his arms. Which is exactly Zayn’s type and the reason Zayn’s been whining for the past month or so.

“His shift already started, so I haven’t run into him today.” Zayn says matter-of-factly. “Should I ask you about Prince Charming then?”

Louis grits his teeth as he pulls his Peter Pan shirt over his head, but doesn’t bother getting into the subject. He hates is when he’s teased about Harry. Harry, who came in a month ago, all curls and long legs and _chest tattoos_ and made Louis’ eyes go wide when he first smiled at him.

Also, the fact that Louis knows Harry’s shift also started because the kids absolutely love Prince Charming and Cinderella is none of Zayn’s business, thank you very much.

“Fuck you.” Louis concludes and turns his back to Zayn so he can look at himself in the full-length mirror by the door.

“Don’t you mean _Harry, fuck me_?” Zayn smirks and Louis’ had enough, so he pushes at Zayn’s costume, which causes him to lose balance and fall flat on his ass. Louis loses it at the sight.

“Glad to see nothing’s changed around here.”

They both turn their heads to see Niall’s head poking through the door. Honestly, they don’t deserve Niall. He’s the best shift manager they could’ve asked for. He’s fun, loud, open-minded and doesn’t even act like a boss. He also hosts the best Friday night get togethers at his apartment. And he’s Irish.

Louis likes Niall.

“The character meet and greets start in half an hour.” Shawn’s voice is heard before the door opens and Niall is standing there, Shawn behind him. They’re the power couple, as some people would put it. Everyone loves them, and they never shy away from PDAs when the kids aren’t around. Louis likes that too, although he would never admit it, not even to himself. He hates couples being all lovey-dovey, or that’s what he likes to think.

“Yeah, we were just about to go for a smoke.” Zayn says from his place on the floor, where he struggles to get himself up on his feet.

Louis eventually helps him up for the second time after Niall gives them a short briefing about the Disney Parade hours and the closing ceremony.

(“The Parade is at four today?” Louis shrieks as he pulls Zayn up. “I’ll die of hyperthermia until then.”

“No one cares.” Zayn argues. Louis pushes him back down.)

They go for a smoke in the specially designed area between the men and women’s changing rooms. Jade aka Princess Jasmine and Gigi aka Tinker Bell are already there, sitting down on one of the benches.

“Good morning ladies.” Louis greets them and sits down next to them, laughing at Zayn who always has to stand because his costume won’t allow any type of movement. Louis wonders why Zayn hasn’t quit already, but they both know the answer to that question. (The answer wears a yellow bear costume and has hazel eyes.)

Oh, and Perrie (aka Cinderella) is also here.

“Are you on a break?” Louis asks her. He tries to be nonchalant.

Fails.

“Yeah, Harry and I have a fifteen minute break every two hours.” She confirms, a smirk playing on her lips. “Why do you ask?”

Louis shrugs. “No reason. Just curious ‘cause…you know…you need to get hydrated every once in a while so you won’t die in the sun and all that.”

The others exchange knowing looks. Louis ignores them. _Hates_ them. (Doesn’t blame them though.)

Louis checks his watch and then puts his cigarette out in the ashtray. He’s got five more minutes until he has to be at the Peter Pan ride. On his way there, he always passes the castle, where Harry usually spends his breaks together with Nick, whose Captain Hook costume isn’t fooling anyone. Louis doesn’t like Nick. He doesn’t like him because Nick is older (almost thirty but looks like 50-Louis thinks) and always flirting with Harry who’s…Harry.

There they are. On a bench in the small garden that’s off limits for the visitors. Nick is going on about something and Harry’s drinking a green smoothie and Louis wants to scream as he approaches them. He doesn’t.

“Lewis.” Nick says, spotting him first. Harry’s head turns from Nick’s face to look at Louis, smile spreading across his face.

“Nicholas.” Louis says and props a hand on his hip as he stops a few meters away from them. He tries not to stare at Harry as he sucks on his straw, looking between the two of them.

“Our meet and greets start in five minutes.” Louis informs Nick, who nods and stands up from the bench.

“I’m aware.” Nick tells him and Louis is still staring at Harry and the way his lashes fan against his cheeks as he continues sipping his disgusting green smoothie.

Harry notices him staring, so he removes his lips from the straw and holds the plastic cup towards Louis. “Do you want some? It’s with kale.”

“Disgustin’.” Louis tells him and Harry smiles. Louis thinks it’s illegal to look so young at twenty-two. And don’t even get him started on the way Harry always looks in his Prince Charming suit and just.

“It’s healthy.” Harry argues. “Way better than the strawberry slushies you always drink.”

Louis looks up with a smirk. Nick places a hand on his shoulder and reminds him that they better be going.

“See you in two hours, Harold.” Nick says towards Harry and Louis pushes his hand off his shoulder as they begin walking towards the Peter Pan ride. He turns his head before they disappear around the corner, just to catch Harry staring at his ass.

★★★

“How old are you?” a girl asks Louis after he took a photo with her in his arms. She’s the last one before Louis gets his first break of the day. He kneels down in front of her.

“I’m immortal love. In Neverland, we never grow up.”

He sees Nick rolling his eyes from where he’s standing, getting ready to take a photo with a little boy, so he leans over to whisper in the girls’ ear. “But Captain Hook is a wrinkly old man.”

The girl giggles and then looks at someone behind Louis, gasping.

“You’re Prince Charming!” she cries and leaves Louis so she can run over to Harry. She hugs his knees and presses her face against them.

Harry smiles at Louis and Louis curses the rollercoaster in his stomach.

He’s not even sure if he likes Harry. All he knows is that Harry makes him feel weird whenever he’s around. It’s nothing though. He’s a manchild. And Louis’ type is…it’s not Harry, okay?!

“Daddy, come take a picture of us!” the girl yells to her father, who struggles with all the Disney merchandise and the stuffed Olaf he’s holding as he tries to get his phone out of his pants.

“Need help?” Louis offers but the man shakes his head as he pulls his phone out.

“You too!” the girl tells Louis and motions for him to come over. Louis walks over reluctantly, although he’s not sure why.

He places a hand on Harry’s lover back and smiles at the camera for a few seconds.

“Can you also take a photo with mine?” Harry asks the dad and pulls his phone out, before he hands it over.

“You’re not supposed to have your phone with you.” Louis tells Harry after the girl takes her father’s hand and leaves.

“Came in handy, didn’t it?” Harry asks, smiling, as they walk over to the castle for their break.

“Harold, you forgot about me already?” Nick’s voice is heard and Louis curses at the sky as Harry stops and turns around to wait for Nick to catch up to them. “Or are you two going to fool around in your secret spot and I’m interrupting?”

Louis wants to scream at him. Harry blushes. It should be illegal for Harry to blush. It should be illegal for Harry to do many things, Louis thinks.

The break room in the castle is filled with all the friends Louis has made in the past month, and they all stare as the three of them walk in. Zayn is out of his costume for the half hour break they have for lunch, so Louis pushes it off the seat and sits down.

“You’re staring.” He tells Zayn as he looks at Harry sitting between Nick and Gigi.

“You are too.” Zayn answers, staring at Liam, who’s sitting between Niall and Jade.

“I’m not.” Louis says and looks away to stare at his best friends’ face.

Zayn makes a face and Louis throws a carrot stick at him before eating another one from the lunch box they get from the park. The lunch boxes they get depend on what mood Niall and Shawn are in every day. If they’re in a bad mood, they only get vegetables and healthy food. If they’re in a good mood, they get pizza. If there’s a ‘Shiallversary’ (as Niall and Shawn call it), they can order takeout. Today, they have carrot sticks, sandwiches and fries. Which means that they’re is in a cheerful mood but not _that_ cheerful.

“When did we get like this?” Zayn mumbles.

“I have no idea what you mean Javadd.” Louis huffs and chooses to ignore him for the rest of his life.

“Don’t you dare call me by my middle name to change the subject.”

Fuck him, honestly.

“You do know that none of us are stupid, right?” Zayn asks and Perrie nods. Louis had no idea she’d been listening into their conversation all this time.

“Yeah babe. We all know you’ve been fooling around in the castle. I mean, there’s no _way_ you two aren’t…something. I can always cut the sexual tension with a knife.” She tells Louis, who’s already standing up.

“I’m done with this outrageous conversation.” Louis says and stands up from the table. He adjusts the Peter Pan hat on his head and looks over to Harry, whose ear is really close to Nick’s mouth as the old man whispers something into it, which makes Harry blush.

Louis gives Niall his leftovers before he tells him that he’s going for a smoke, not even acknowledging Harry, who’s outright staring at him.

He goes to the bathroom first and stares at himself in the mirror for what seems like an eternity. The door opens and he sees Harry in the mirror, closing the door behind him. Louis doesn’t say anything but turns around nonetheless. He’s never really sure what to say to Harry, because there are always too many thoughts rushing through his head.

“You’ve got some _kale_ smoothie on your upper lip.” Louis tells him and points to his own upper lip. He’s lying.

Harry rolls his eyes and pushes Louis against the sinks, kissing him. Louis complies immediately by opening his mouth and placing one hand on the back of Harry’s neck.

The first time they kissed was two weeks after they met. It was right before their lunch break on a Thursday, when they coincidentally ( ~~not really, Louis planned it~~ ) arrived at the same time in the staff-only hallway that leads to the break room. Louis told Harry that he looks ridiculous in his Prince Charming suit and Harry huffed, clearly tired of Louis taking the piss. And to be fair, Louis had been taking the piss for the past two weeks, because that’s just how he flirts. He flirts by being mean and arrogant and honestly, he’s like a third grader when it comes to comebacks. But Louis doesn’t have a crush on Harry. He just thinks he’s pretty. So anyway, Harry pushed him up against the wall in the hallway, completely taking Louis by surprise, and kissed him.

“What are you doing? This isn’t appropriate Disneyland behavior.” Louis argued and Harry kissed him again. And that time, Louis didn’t say anything else.

So that’s what they’ve been doing for the past two weeks, kissing in hallways and bathrooms and break rooms when no one was around. How people started getting suspicious, Louis has no idea, because they agreed not to tell anyone and they’ve been really good at hiding. Or so they like to think.

“Your arse in those tights…” Harry trails off against Louis’ lips when they break apart for air.

“Yeah, you tell me that every time.”

Harry smiles and takes a step back. “Because it’s true.”

Then he does the frog face™ and Louis shakes his head, stepping aside to check himself out in the mirror. If they’re gone too long, the others will get suspicious. And showing up with messed up hair and glossy lips is a giveaway as well.

“When do you get off?” Harry asks, coming up behind Louis to run a hand through his hair and look at himself in the mirror. Louis ignores their size difference.

“When you get me off.” Louis answers, because he can’t take anything seriously when Harry’s so close and it’s kind of embarrassing to be honest. He’s a grown man and this frog faced™, lanky manchild is doing all sorts of things to him and it’s been _a month_.

“I’m serious.” Harry pouts and Louis turns around to face him. His nose bumps against Harry’s chest so he takes a step back.

“At six. You?”

“Four. Right after the parade.”

Harry opens his mouth to say something but the bathroom door opens and Zayn steps in, shuffling towards the mirror, sweating. It’s always a problem getting back into his Baymax costume after two hours of work because he’s hot (literally) and he’s done.

“Well then, see you around Harold.” Louis says and pats Harry on the chest before he walks out of the bathroom.

★★★

“Forgot this?” Zayn asks fifteen minutes later when Louis is back with the children at the Peter Pan ride.

Louis turns around to face Zayn, already in his costume. Baymax head and everything. He’s holding the Peter Pan hat that Louis didn’t even notice was missing.

“Found it in the bathroom. I would say something about the circumstances and possible scenarios in which it could’ve fallen off, but I’m not going to.” Zayn continues and Louis can hear him smirk.

“Well, then shut up.” Louis mutters and takes it from him to place it on his head.

“You know the two of you aren’t fooling anyone but yourselves, right?”

Louis blinks at him. “You know I will never be able to take you seriously when you’re in that costume, right?” he retorts and then turns around to pay attention to the children. Zayn can go fuck himself, honestly.

One and a half hour later, it’s time to get ready for the daily parade, which gets Louis really excited. His favorite thing about his job is the parade, because he gets to dance around and act silly while being filmed by hundreds of excited people. Also, it’s always a good opportunity to get Harry all flustered because the Peter Pan float comes right before the Cinderella float.

“You could at least try and pretend like you hate this, you know.” Zayn tells Louis.

Louis looks up at him from where he’s sitting cross-legged by his parade float, waiting for their signal.

“Don’t be bitter just ‘cause you don’t have a parade float.”

“I’m actually over the moon happy about. I cannot imagine walking in that costume for half an hour in the sun and being filmed while doing so.” Zayn tells him and sits down on the grass next to him, lighting a cigarette. He’s out of his costume, much to Louis’ disappointment, because everyone gets a break during the parade (except of the people who are in the actual parade).

“I think you’re happy that Winnie the Pooh also doesn’t have a parade.” Louis nudges him and nods over to where Liam is standing, talking to Niall and Shawn.

Zayn ignores him. All Louis and Zayn have done for the past month since they came here is pining over two gorgeous guys, telling each other off for pining of two gorgeous guys and completely denying that they’re pining over two gorgeous guys, even though they both know the truth yet they keep lying to themselves. And Zayn has had enough.

“Listen.” He hisses, grabbing Louis’ arm and taking him by surprise. “I’ve had _enough_.”

Louis purses his lips and looks at him, not impressed. Zayn continues.

“We need to take action, otherwise we’ll be gone in six weeks and the ‘what if’s’ will be too much to handle.”

“For you maybe.” Louis mutters.

Zayn opens his mouth to say something, but Shawn walks up to them with a pad in his hand, yelling into his earpiece and then points at the Peter Pan float on standby.

“It’s time! Peter Pan float go go go!” he yells and Louis sighs before he stands up from the ground and dusts himself off.

He gets in line in front of the float, between Gigi and Nick, ready for the speakers on the float to start and the doors to be opened. There’s a loud noise and then the gate slowly moves, so Louis turns his head in Harry’s direction, whose Cinderella float is right behind him. As per usual, he catches him staring at his ass. It’s a good way to start the parade.

They spend the next half hour walking from the entrance of the park all the way up to the castle, dancing through their choreographed routine. Halfway through their routine, Louis jumps onto the float and climbs into Captain Hook’s ship so he can wave at the children and their parents standing on the sidelines. Nick joins him in the ship and Louis suppresses his urge to push him off the ship.

Harry and Perrie are dancing in the pumpkin/chariot behind them and Louis smiles when they make eye contact, still waving.

“Wouldn’t you like to be Cinderella.” Nick says into his ear.

Louis smirks as he waves. Then he pushes Nick off the ship.

It’s a good day.

★★★

Once the parade has ended and they’re inside the castle, Niall comes over to ask Louis to never push Nick off the ship again.

“It was an honest mistake.” Louis says, but it’s unconvincing and Niall doesn’t really seem to care that much anyway.

“You know you wouldn’t have to do stuff like that if you’d just admitted that you have a crush on Harry and ask him out, right?” Louis’ mouth falls open.

Okay, so Niall might seem to care that much.

“I think you’re mistaken.” He tells Niall and turns his head to make sure no one has heard their conversation.

Niall shrugs and walks over to his boyfriend, so that’s that.

There’s a hot breath on the back of his neck while Louis is over at the table in the corner of the break room, getting himself his second cup of coffee of the day. He knows who it is.

“I’m just finishing my shift.” Harry says and Louis _despises_ the way his hair stands up on the back of his neck. “Do you want me to wait for you?”

Louis lifts his left shoulder and steps away from him because he’s getting tingles down his spine and it is not okay.

“No, it’s fine.” He quickly says. He’s been avoiding meeting Harry outside the park for the past two weeks because he just doesn’t…he just doesn’t. He’s not the type to be all lovey dovey and even though it’s Paris, the city of fucking love. It’s just that Harry’s right _there_ and he’s really charming (no pun intended) and Louis is afraid. Not sure of what, but he’s afraid.

“When are you going to stop shying away from finally asking him out on a date?” Zayn casually asks once Louis flops down on the seat next to him.

“When are you going to mind your own damn business?” Louis snaps and grabs the carrot Zayn’s been munching on so he can take a bite out of it. Zayn doesn’t even object.

★★★

“So you waited for me huh.” Louis states when he sees Harry sitting on the bench by his own locker in the changing rooms. It’s way past 6pm and Louis is done for the day.

“Uh…” Harry trails off and looks towards the showers, where Nick emerges with a towel wrapped around his waist.

Louis’ face falls. Of course. He tries to hide his distaste about the situation but miserably fails when he bites his lower lip with his teeth.

“We were planning on going into Discoveryland and ride the Space Mountain and the Orbitron because it’s less crowded right now.” Harry explains, motioning over to Nick.

“And we’re coming as well.” Zayn says, materializing out of thin air before he places a hand on Louis’ shoulders. “Aren’t we?”

Louis shrugs and rolls his eyes, shimmying out of Zayn’s grip. Man, how he’d love to clap back at him with some Liam references, but he knows that Zayn’s only doing this because he thinks Louis doesn’t mind the jokes and that any jokes referring to his pining would hurt him and cause him to close himself off.

After he’s showered and changed into his usual everyday clothes (which are a pair of Adidas sweatpants and a white shirt), he finds the changing rooms empty, so he goes outside into the smoking area. Everyone’s gathered there now, even the girls, since everyone’s shifts end at six.

He walks next to Niall and Shawn to Discoverland because Zayn has sparked up a conversation with Liam and he doesn’t want to interrupt. Also, he’s a tiny bit jealous because Liam’s eyes light up when Zayn cracks a really bad joke, all the while Harry is too busy laughing at Nick’s shitty ones.

There’s a long line in front of the Space Mountain (who told them Discoveryland wouldn’t be busy?) so they wave their staff badges at the Fast Lane queue to get in.

He rides on the Space Mountain with Perrie two times in a row, before Nick complains about getting sick if they do it the second time.

“Oh, your ancient stomach can’t hold that much fun, huh?” Louis mumbles under his breath and Harry frowns at him. Louis rolls his eyes.

“I’m gonna sit this one out.” Nick says and looks up at the moving Orbitron.

“Well they do have an age limit you know.” Louis tells him and sweetly smiles.

Nick ignores him and dramatically puts the back of his hand on his forehead. “Harold, go on without me.”

Louis’ jaw clenches because calling Harry ‘Harold’ when he knows that’s not his actual name is _his_ thing. He watches Harry smile and then take two more steps so he’s standing next to him now, dimples showing.

“Guess I’m riding with you now.” Harry says and places his hands inside his pockets. Louis wonders how those giant hands can even fit inside the pocket of the way too tight skinnies.

“I’m your second choice?” Louis asks and crosses his arms. He’s trying to seem casual, like he’s joking, when in fact it does bother him a bit. Just a bit.

Harry’s face turns serious at that, with crinkles showing on his forehead and all.

“You know you’re not.”

“Well, when it comes to having fun I am.” Louis pouts, and okay. He’s being a baby, but it’s not his fault that this…tree-like frog faced man…boy (???) makes him that way.

Ten minutes later it’s finally their turn to get into the tiny ‘spaceships’ definitely not suited for two grown ass men. Louis sits down and leans against the back of the ship. Harry just stands there, looking down at him.

“What?”

Harry shakes his head. “You’re kidding, right?”

“About?”

“You don’t actually expect me to get in front of you, right? My legs won’t fit.”

“They can fit plenty.” Louis argues, and they both know he’s wrong.

When Harry doesn’t budge and Liam turns his head from the ship in front of them to see what’s taking so long to take off, Louis groans and shuffles forwards so Harry can get in. His lanky legs barely fit in the small space as it is, and Louis is very aware of Harry’s chest pressing against his back. He stares at Harry’s ridiculous boots on either side of the lever.

Louis looks down at his own feet as they’re slowly being raised into the air. Can you really tell dicksize by how big one’s feet are?

“Hey what’s your-“ he starts, but then he feels Harry’s hot breath on the back of his neck and he’s pushed forwards as Harry grabs the lever and pulls it. That causes them to go even higher, but Louis can’t even concentrate right now because Harry’s right _there_ , curls brushing his temples.

“What’s my what?” Harry asks and then leans back again as the ship slowly circles the Orbitron. They could go higher, maybe even catch up to Zayn and Liam, but Louis is way too invested in this conversation right now.

“Your shoe size.” Louis says and cranes his neck to look at him. His hair is flowing from the wind and Louis now realizes why the Prince Charming character fits him so well.

“I’m a ten.” Harry answers.

You got that right, Louis thinks.

“You?”

“Uh…” should he lie? What’s the point, really. “I’m wear eight.”

“Wow that’s…small.” Harry observes and Louis’ hand sneaks around the lever, eyes not leaving Harry’s face.

“Excuse you?”

“I mean…I don’t know.” Harry rambles. “Eight is what my sister has I think.”

That’s it. Louis pulls the lever as far as it goes, which shoots them upwards. Harry yells and clutches the sides of the ship.

“Louis, what the fuck?” he yelps, but there’s a smile playing at his lips, even though his life just flashed before his eyes.

Harry’s hair looks disheveled and beautiful so Louis fucks with the lever for the rest of the ride, bouncing them up and down until they get lowered to the ground by default.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Harry says and tries to get his hair in order but it’s too late. It’s already sticking up and there’s curls everywhere.

Louis smiles. It’s a good day.

★★★

“Party at our place tonight!” Niall announces the next day during their lunch break. It’s a really hot day today, so Louis is literally sweating his ass off as he munches on some pizza. Louis stares at the slice and understands the reasoning behind their food choices.

Some people cheer and Louis shakes his head. It’s not that he doesn’t want to go, it’s just that he’s downloaded an entire season of Brooklyn Nine-Nine on his iPad and he was planning on watching it tonight with a tub of ice cream.

“Starts at ten, could go until the early morning hours.” Shawn adds and places a hand on Niall’s shoulder. “Dress code casual.”

“Why do you always have to point that out?” Niall asks. “Of course it’s casual.”

They get into a barely audible fight so Louis averts his attention and chooses to stare at Harry instead, but in a subtle way.

“You’re not being subtle.” Zayn mumbles into his pizza.

Louis rolls his eyes. “Fuck you, Zayn. It’s not like you’re doing any better.”

“As a matter o’ fact, I am.” Zayn grins. “Liam and I are going out before the party today.”

Louis pulls his head back so his double chin is showing and scrunches his nose. “The fuck? When did you establish that?”

“Yesterday on the Orbitron I asked him out. Simple as that.”

Asking someone out just like that??? Sure, Louis is shy, but Zayn doing _that_ when he can’t find the guts to do _that_?? Louis can’t really wrap his head around it.

Honestly, sometimes Louis feels like he can’t even _talk_ around Harry, let alone ask him out.

“Wow, can’t relate.” Louis finally says and wants to just go home already because he’s sweating and just…no.

“So, are you coming tonight?” Harry asks him when the break ends and Louis is just getting his third coffee of the day over by the Espresso machine. “To Niall and Shawn’s?” he adds when he sees Louis stare at him in confusion.

“Yeah I am. Hence the coffee.”

“What, you can’t stay awake without coffee?”

“I’m an old man Harold.” Louis says, pulling his lips into a thin line and slowly nodding.

“They invented RedBull you know.”

Louis waves his hand as he tries to think about something else to say. Literally anything, just so they can keep talking.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to see you in something…normal.” Harry tells him.

It downs on Louis that they’ve never actually attended a get together at Niall and Shawn’s at the same time. Either Harry was too busy doing God-knows-what or Louis just wasn’t feeling it.

“Are you saying you don’t enjoy _this_?” Louis gasps, motioning to his costume.

“Not at all.” Harry smirks, dimples showing, sending Louis six feet under ground level. Just like that. Louis scrunches his nose. “What?”

Louis cocks his head. “What what?”

“You scrunch your nose every time you have an inner conversation with yourself. So I was asking what you were thinking just now.”

Louis doesn’t really know what to say. “Uh…I hadn’t realized.”

“It’s endearing.” Harry says and then turns his head to where Nick just shouted his name. “’m coming, just a sec.” Then he turns back to Louis. “See you tonight.”

“Yeah…see you.”

He watches Harry walk away and has to force himself to look back at the machine because his coffee is long done.

★★★

It’s half past eight and Louis’ been staring at himself in the mirror since half past seven. He’s got his black ‘good leg day’ skinnies on, but now he’s questioning them. He looks on the bed, where his ‘fuck me’ jeans are laid out, next to his ‘I do squats’ ones. The ‘fuck me’ jeans are for special occasions, he thinks, and he’s already changed in and out of the other three times now. These will do.

He orders an Uber and double checks his fringe in the mirror for good measure before he’s out the door.

The ride goes by silently as Uber rides tend to usually go when he’s alone, and he makes sure to rate it five stars before he stares up at the apartment building. He’s a tiny bit jealous because they’re on the last floor and they have a view of the Eiffel tower from their balcony, it’s unreal.

He’s buzzed in after five seconds of ringing, and by the time he exits the elevator he can already hear the faint music coming from the flat. The door’s unlocked so Louis just lets himself in. It’s warm inside so he takes off his bomber jacket as he tries to locate Zayn or Niall.

Niall’s by the kitchen door, talking to Harry, and Louis feels like he’s can’t breathe when Harry turns around to see who Niall’s looking at. His hair is up in a tiny bun and he’s wearing a band shirt with blue jeans and Vans, out of all things.

“Hi.” Harry smiles as Louis approaches them. It’s faint due to the music blaring from the speakers in the corner, but Louis still catches it.

“Hey lads.”

Niall pulls him into a hug like he hasn’t seen him hours prior to this, and Harry just stands there.

“I’m gonna get you a drink!” Niall tells him. “Vodka RedBull good?”

Louis nods and then Niall disappears into the kitchen, leaving them alone.

“I didn’t think you’d own Vans, if your usual boots are anything to go by.” Louis starts and Harry leans with his shoulder against the wall like he’s in a fucking movie. He should be in a fucking movie.

“I didn’t think you’d own any jeans, if your usual sweatpants are anything to go by.” Harry retorts and Louis knows he needs to get drunk ASAP.

“You complaining?”

Harry shakes his head. “Not at all.” He says and then blatantly gives him a onceover, from his shoes all the way up to his hair. Louis doesn’t know what he’s thinking and that makes him a little self-conscious.

“What are you thinking?” he asks, because _fuck it_.

“I’m thinking you look really good.”

Of course Harry doesn’t give a shit about expressing everything that goes through his brain. Of course.

Niall, bless his soul, comes back with a plastic cup and hands it to Louis, who takes a big sip and then makes a face.

“I said Vodka with RedBull, not just Vodka.”

“Hey, if you want less alcohol and more juice just ask Shawn to make your drinks.” Niall says and raises his hands up in defense.

“I heard that.” Shawn says and walks over, draping a hand over Niall’s shoulders. “Hi Louis.”

Louis shakes his hand and then turns around to dramatically search for Zayn. “Where’s Zayn?”

“He texted me he’s on his way. With Liam.” Shawn informs him.

“Well at least they’ve stopped tiptoeing around each other, hm?” Niall says into his cup as he drinks.

Louis and Harry glance at each other for a second and then look away at the same time. To say that Louis’ entire body is filled with a rush of heat is an understatement.

Zayn and Liam walk through the door that very second and Louis lets out a relieved sigh. He feels less awkward and anxious when Zayn is around.

“Where have you been?” Louis asks, even though he already knows the answer. He just needs a reason to talk to him right now, to make himself busy so he won’t stare at Harry and give himself away.

“Out.” Zayn answers, and if Louis had anything better to do, he wouldn’t question him further because Zayn is a private person by nature, but right now, being intrusive is a necessity.

“ _Where_?”

Zayn squints at him. “Why are you so pushy?” his eyes fall on someone behind Louis. “Are you trying to seem occupied in order to avoid something?”

Louis’ been caught.

“Pshh, no.” he waves it off. “Just curious.”

“Let’s get a beer.” Zayn says, which makes Louis sigh in relief and follow his best friend to the kitchen. That’s when he decides that tonight a good night to get completely plastered just in case he needs an excuse for the actions that may follow.

An hour, two beers, and three shots later, Louis is on the living room table with Perrie, dancing to a cheesy pop song everyone pretends to hate but secretly loves singing along to.

“He’s watching you.” Perrie says into his ear over the music and Louis is a bit too tipsy to register her words.

“Who?”

“Harry, who else?”

Louis turns his head to look where Perrie is looking, just to find Harry staring at him, even though he’s currently engaged in a conversation with Nick. Louis shrugs it off.

“So?”

“So. Go over there. Dance with him.”

“Easier said than done.”

Perrie rolls her eyes at him and asks if he wants another beer, so Louis agrees and follows her off the table and into the kitchen.

This turns out to be a bad idea though, because there are people gathered around the table, playing Piccolo with shots instead of sips.

“Louis’ joining!” Niall announces as soon as he sets his eyes on him and smirks as he types in something on his phone.

Louis looks over at Zayn and Liam, who are engaged in a deep, drunken conversation about something Louis can’t quite decipher.

Niall is about to say something when Harry suddenly materializes next to Louis, with Nick in tow. They’re added to the game as Shawn pours them all a round of Tequila shots.

“Okay. We’re playing the ‘Caliente’ version because I paid for it once when I was pissed.” Niall announces to the room and then clicks the screen.

“Zayn, let Harry put some ice cubes into your pants or take a shot.”

Zayn rather takes the shot and then Niall clicks the screen again.

“Take a shot if you ever had sex at work.”

Shawn laughs and raises his glass to Niall’s, and then Gigi, Perrie and Nick also take a shot. Louis watches as Harry looks down at his glass before reaching his hand out and…running it through his hair.

The next few rounds don’t concern Louis, who just stands there, watching his friends get drunk.

“Oooh. Take a shot if you wouldn’t mind kissing the person on your right.” Niall snickers and looks up at Louis, then at Harry, who’s on his right and who also has Nick on his right.

Louis knows that if both him and Harry take a shot, it would be embarrassing. He looks down at his shot, contemplating for a second, before fucking it and taking it to his lips.

He finishes it and as he slams it against the table, he looks over to see what Harry’s doing, just to see that Harry’s smiling at the table with his shot glass still full.

“Okay…next one.” Niall says and Louis can hear the smile in his voice. He loves and hates Niall at the same time. “Harry has to blindfold himself and get kissed by two people. If he guesses the people in the right order then they have to take a shot, and if he doesn’t, he has to take a shot.”

“Harold, ready?” Louis asks and Harry turns his head, eyes sparkling as he nods.

Perrie hands him her scarf and ties it around his head so he won’t be able to see, before he steps back and waits.

There’s a silent conversation going on between everyone else around the table and it’s decided that first Nick and then Louis will kiss Harry.

Louis doesn’t even watch as Nick presses a kiss to Harry’s lips before stepping back and letting Louis have his turn.

He gets on his tiptoes and presses a kiss to the lips he’s grown familiar with for the past few weeks, then retreats to his place.

“You can take the blindfold off.”

Harry does as instructed. “So the first one I would say was…Niall?”

Everyone laughs and Harry takes the shot when Nick reveals it was him, before Harry has to name the second one.

“And the second one…Louis.”

There’s a few claps and laughs around the table as Louis is handed a shot, and he takes it without taking his eyes off of Harry.

Niall moves on and ten minutes later everyone’s already fucked.

“Okay, okay, the last one. Take a shot if you wouldn’t mind going home with the person on your left. If you know what I mean.”

Zayn is on Louis’ left but he can’t really be bothered to take yet another shot, so he settles for watching Harry’s reaction to the whole thing.

Harry doesn’t take the shot, which has Louis’ stomach falling, but then he raises a hand.

“I would take a shot but I’m already royally pissed so I’ll just settle for this verbal confirmation.” Harry drunkenly says and smiles.

Louis has another weird feeling in his stomach, unlike the previous one, and tries to hide his smile as he turns around. He’s definitely tipsy at this point and he just feels like he needs a breath of fresh air and maybe some water. So he walks over to the bathroom and splashes some water in his face before he heads out for the balcony.

There are a few people leaning against the railing sharing a spliff so Louis tries to go in the furthest corner of the balcony because the smell is making him nauseous right now. And it just so happens that Harry decides to come out on the balcony as well, looking absolutely hammered.

“Hi.”

Louis blinks twice before his eyes focus on Harry’s face and it’s only in this second that he realizes he kind of looks like a smiling frog.

“Hi.” Louis replies and cocks his hip.

“Your eyes are blue.”

“Uh…thanks? Yours are…green.”

Louis laughs at that and looks down at his shoes because he doesn’t want Harry to see him blush. It’s just his luck that Nick and Niall decide to also show up on the overcrowded balcony at the same time Harry thinks it’s a good idea to continue talking about his eyes.

“I like your eyes. They’re a really special color…I call it Blouis, they’re Blouis.”

Louis is a bit flabbergasted by Harry’s words and can’t really find his own because it’s just…just.

“I think it’s time to take you home.” Nick laughs as he comes up behind Harry and places a hand on his shoulder.

“But I want to stay.” Harry pouts and struggles to keep himself up straight, but fails (the irony).

Louis makes an excuse to leave and goes on a mission to find Zayn so he can convince him to go home. That doesn’t happen though because Zayn is way too busy dancing with Liam and making Louis wish he had that with ~~Har~~ someone. He ends up ordering an Uber and going home by his drunken self.

★★★

Louis doesn’t see Harry for the next three days because he doesn’t have work on Monday and Harry’s off on Tuesday, so when Wednesday comes around, it’s safe to say he’s dreading it. And the fact that Zayn keeps going on about how him and Liam are getting along well isn’t helping at all.

“Can you shut up about Liam for just one second?” Louis growls at Zayn as they’re headed out to the smoking area for their lunch break. “You’ve been talking about him non stop for the past three days.”

Zayn waves his hand dismissively as he takes a cigarette to his lips and lights it up.

“Lou. If you got your shit together and stopped thinking two months ahead, you could be with Harry where I am right now with Liam.”

“Don’t ‘Lou’ me.” Louis mumbles, ignoring the fact that Zayn just put into words what he has been thinking.

“And now you’re changing the subject. Okay.”

Louis flips him off because it’s the only way he can dismiss the conversation without expressing his actual feelings. He’s not a feelings person. Yes, he feels feelings and yes he would love to walk around Paris with _someone_ at night and share an ice cream by the Eiffel Tower, but that doesn’t mean he can just go ahead and _do_ that.

His whole plan of avoiding Harry goes to shit when Niall turns up in the smoking area and tells Louis that the cast of Peter Pan and the cast of Cinderella are having a M&G by the Teacup ride in fifteen minutes.

Zayn raises his eyebrows at Louis, who is too busy to think that Niall might have done this on purpose.

Nevertheless, he finds himself walking to the Teacup ride with Gigi, trying not to look at Harry and Nick who are once again way too close in the staff only area behind the ride.

Louis’ not sure if Harry even remembers the whole ‘Blouis’ thing and the fact that he basically admitted that he wouldn’t mind going home with Louis, but handling awkward moments has never been his strong suit so he kind of hopes Harry doesn’t remember.

It seems to turn out in his favor because Harry acknowledges him with a curt nod and then turns back to continue his conversation with Nick.

The Meet and Greet goes by swiftly, with kids asking for Louis to hold them as they pose for a picture or to make a typical Peter Pan pose as they pretend they’re one of the Lost Boys.

There’s just one more kid whose name is Jacob and who seems sad as he poses for a photo, so Louis makes it his duty to ask what’s wrong, even though he’s not sure whether the kid understands his English.

“Our nanny doesn’t want to go on the Teacup ride with us and we’re not allowed to go alone.” The kid pouts, letting Louis know that he’s from England as well, somewhere near Newcastle, definitely.

“If you want, I can go on the Teacups with you.” Louis smiles and Jacob’s eyes instantly light up at the proposition.

“Mary! Peter Pan said he’d ride with us!” Jacob yells over to the girl who’s currently hugging Harry’s legs.

Oh.

Okay.

“Can I go with Tinkerbell and Cinderella?” Mary asks and Gigi agrees.

They wrap up the M&G and ten minutes later they’re next in line for the Teacups.

Louis climbs into one of the teacups with Harry, making sure to place Jacob between them. The ride starts and it’s not long before Jacob asks them to go faster because he wants to have more fun than his sister.

“Harold, you up for it?” Louis asks, smirking, forgetting about everything and everyone for a second when Harry’s eyes light up. Yes, it’s the first time they’ve spoken in like three days, but surely that isn’t the reason Harry’s smiling so bright, is it?

“Yeah.”

Louis grips into the bars and starts spinning them faster with Harry joining in, and soon enough they’re spinning past their colleagues and the other people around them. Jacob is having the time of his life, laughing and cheering with his eyes closed.

His stomach is hurting from so much laughter as they spin past Gigi and Perrie who are trying their best to keep up with them but are failing miserably.

The ride ends five minutes later and Louis is a bit dizzy but happy nonetheless. First of all, because Jacob is all smiley and second of all because him and Harry are getting along so well, they even walk over to the breakroom together (with Gigi, Perrie and Nick behind them, but who cares). They don’t have anything else to do today besides the parade in one hour, so they decide to kill time in the breakroom.

“Lou, wait.”

Harry’s voice makes him stop in his tracks just as he’s about to open the door, which causes Gigi to bump into him.

“Whoops, sorry.” She laughs and opens the door as Louis steps aside to turn around and look at Harry.

Harry waits for everyone to disappear into the breakroom, ignoring their looks purposefully, and as soon as they’re alone, he crowds Louis up against the door.

Shit.

“I like your costume.” Harry says licking his lips as he looks down at Louis’.

“You’ve told me that before.”

Louis is proud of himself for not letting his voice crack mid-sentence.

“But thank you.” He adds, eyes leaving Harry’s to focus on his lips. He’s got great lips, Harry. Should he tell him that? No way. He doesn’t have an excuse.

“Look, I know we’ve just known each other for a month, but I want to-“

The door digs into Louis’ back as someone from the other side tries to open it, so Louis jumps forward like he’s been burnt and Harry grips into his arm to stabilize him.

“Oh…sorry.” Perrie apologizes. “I have to go to the toilets and…yeah. Sorry.”

There’s an obvious smirk playing on her lips and frankly, Louis is tired of everyone thinking they know what’s up.

“Yeah, no problem.” He says, straightening his costume and fleeing into the breakroom.

He settles down on a chair next to Gigi and tries to make conversation so he can stop thinking about whatever Harry ‘wanted to’.

Niall and Shawn are engaged into a conversation in the corner, heatedly whispering about something that they can’t decipher. Then, Shawn coughs to get everyone’s attention and stands up, followed by Niall.

“The new staff policy and rules have been updated as of today, so I’d like everyone to take a moment and go over it while on break.” Shawn announces as Niall hands out a piece of paper to everyone.

Louis goes over the document swiftly. “There’s nothing new on here.”

“Yeah there is.” Liam observes. “Section three, paragraph one.”

As IF Liam had the time to read everything.

“Any not-work appropriate relationships between co-workers are strongly prohibited and frowned upon.” Liam reads out loud.

Louis involuntarily looks over at Harry, who’s still reading. If he heard Liam, he doesn’t let on.

Liam and Zayn don’t seem too phased by this and Louis isn’t really sure why he’s so bothered by the newly added rule. It’s not like he’s interested in having a relationship with a staff member. Fuck.

Niall and Shawn make sure that everyone understood the new policy before they leave the breakroom with some type of evil smiles on their faces.

★★★

The parade goes by as usual, and Louis is really confused as to why Harry motions for him to come over as soon as he gets off the float.

“Hi. Sorry, I’m really sweaty right now.” Louis apologizes and somehow envies Harry’s ability to still look flawless after an entire day of being in a Prince Charming costume.

“About what I didn’t get to finish earlier.” Harry starts and Louis bites his lip. “I want to…I mean if it’s possible, I’d _like_ to take you out on Friday. I’m not here tomorrow so I just-yeah.”

“As in…wait. But the new policy-“

“I’m not asking you to be in relationship with me, I’m asking you to come to dinner with me…or something.”

“Or something?” Louis teases.

“Yeah…I’ll figure something out until Friday.”

“You don’t even have a plan?” Louis jokes and Harry smiles, shaking his head.

“I just knew I wanted to ask you out.”

Louis can feel himself blushing so he focuses on his shoes. It doesn’t really feel real but he’s happy that Harry did the first step since he wouldn’t have been able to handle the rejection.

Nick calls Harry over and Louis abstains himself as much as he can from huffing.

“So, Friday?” Harry checks again and Louis nods. “Great.” Harry smirks, and with that he’s off in Nick’s direction.

Louis watches him walk away and only realizes that his cheeks hurt from smiling when he reaches the changing rooms.

★★★

It’s Friday morning when Louis receives a text from Harry.

 **Harry:** 7pm sound good?

 **Louis:** sure, where are we going?

 **Harry:** it’s a surprise

 **Louis:** okay then, what should I wear?

There’s a ten minute pause and Louis chews on his bottom lip as he nervously taps his foot.

“Are you okay?” Zayn asks from the kitchen. “I can hear you stomping your feet from here.”

“No, not really.”

Zayn comes out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee and settles down on the couch next to Louis. “What’s up.”

“Harry asked me out.”

Zayn nearly chokes on his coffee. “What?!”

“On Wednesday, he asked me out.”

“And I’m only hearing about this _now_?”

“Is this really the issue here right now?” Louis asks, rolling his eyes.

“No, go on.”

“That’s it.”

Zayn blinks. “And then what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that I’m freaking out and that I have NO idea where we’re going or what to wear.”

The phone buzzes and they both look down at it. Louis grabs it hesitantly.

 **Harry:** wear something to match your expectations

“What am I supposed to do with this information? Oh my GOD.” Louis whines and Zayn takes the phone from him to read the text.

“Well what are your expectations?”

“I mean…it’s Harry. It could be anything from a walk in the park to a fancy restaurant.” Louis concludes.

“I think you should take your skinnies of course-“

“The ones that make my ass look really good or the ones that are really flexible?”

“The flexible ones.” Zayn winks.

“Fuck. I haven’t been on a proper date in ages.” Louis groans and drops back against the couch.

“I know something that might cheer you up.”

Louis doesn’t even have to look to know that Zayn is currently pulling out his Tupperware container from under the coffee table. He smiles and grabs the filter paper to help.

★★★

It’s 6:30pm and Louis is in a crisis. Yes, it’s already late in his mind to be picking out clothes but he’s been at it from way before 6 and he’s about to have a meltdown. He finally chooses the flexible jeans which can also double as sweatpants because he can basically do the splits in them….you know, just in case Harry wants to reenact the Notebook scene and Louis has to jump and wrap his legs around his waist.

He opts for a black tank top with a sweatshirt over it and a bomber jacket. It’s not really fancy restaurant material but he’s almost completely sure Harry won’t do something so basic because it’s Harry.

“Zayn have you seen my black-“

The doorbell rings and Louis stops in his tracks in the hallway.

“Now it’s time to panic.” Zayn says from the couch as Louis disappears into the bathroom to check his face and his hair.

He can hear muffled voices from the front door as he runs a hand through his hair and sprays on some perfume before he emerges from the bathroom.

Harry’s in the living room looking flawless (as per usual) and brightly smiles when he sees Louis coming towards him.

“Hi.”

Louis blanks for a moment. “Hi. Uh-I hope this is okay because well-I don’t really know-yeah. I need to find my shoes and then we’re good to go.”

“It’s alright, there’s no hurry. We have reservations at eight.” Harry smiles and Louis checks him out swiftly as he finds his lucky black Vans in the corner of the living room. Harry’s wearing some type of blue jeggings and a black shirt that fits him like a glove because Louis can tell he’s working out. And the usual white Vans Louis thinks will be the death of him someday.

So they’re going at a restaurant? Or a movie?

“Okay, I’m ready.”

“Great.”

Harry gets off the couch and turns to Zayn, who’s in the kitchen doorway watching like a proud parent who’s about to send his kids to prom.

“When should I be expecting him back?” Zayn asks Harry as he shakes his hand goodbye.

“I don’t know really. Depends.” Harry replies and Louis flips Zayn off behind Harry’s back before he opens the door and they’re out.

The walk to the elevator is quiet until the door opens and they get inside.

“So where are we going?”

Harry chuckles and turns to look at him.

“I was wondering how long you’d last until you get too impatient. It took you about ten seconds. But it’s a surprise.”

“Am I dressed accordingly?”

“I don’t know, really. Can you lift your legs or do squats in those jeans?” Harry asks and Louis thinks he’s joking.

“Oh, you’re not joking.” Louis laughs when he sees his face. “Uh, but yeah, I can even do the splits in this.”

“You can do a split?”

“Theoretically.”

The door opens and they exit the elevator. “That’s impressive.”

“Yeah, I used to love gymnastics when I was younger.”

He naturally follows Harry’s direction towards the Metro station a few streets away, still having no clue about where they’re headed, but it’s exciting.

“If I guess where we’re going will you tell me?”

Harry snorts and shakes his head in an endearing way as he tries to look for the right subway. “Yeah, okay. Give it a try.”

“Is it a fancy restaurant?” Louis tries.

“Nope.” Harry answers, popping the ‘p’.

“Oh thank God, it’s the one I was the most worried about.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because I’m not really dressed for a fancy restaurant.”

“Yeah, a dinner date is kind of standard but you’re not…standard.” Harry says, frowning, and it’s then that Louis realizes he’s also nervous.

They step into the subway and can’t find any empty seats so they grab one of the vertical bars which Louis absolutely despises because his mother would always warn them about the bacteria on them.

“Is it a movie?”

“That was one of my options, but no.”

“What movie were you thinking?”

“Infinity War.”

Louis’ eyes light up. “Ooh, I would’ve liked that.”

“Well that can be our next-yeah.”

Louis cocks his hip and raises an eyebrow. “Oh, so there’s going to be a next date? With all the policies and everything?”

Harry shrugs and the doors open. New people come in and it’s getting a bit crowded so Louis shuffles closer to him.

“We’ll see if you like the first one.” Harry tells him.

“Oh, I know! Is it like a picnic in the park?”

Harry smiles. “No.”

“Is it a yoga class or something?”

“Oh my God no.”

“Then why would you ask me if I can squat in these jeans?” Louis asks, cocking his head. He’s really close to Harry now because they just passed the station closest to the Eiffel Tower and it’s really crowded and sweaty.

“Still a surprise.” Harry winks.

“Is it Paintball?”

“No, but your guesses are making me doubt that I made the right choice.” Harry tells him and the subway jerks forward, which causes Louis to lose balance and grab onto Harry’s jean jacket for support.

There’s a man who smells like sweat next to him but Harry smells so good and is so _close_ that Louis can’t even be bothered.

“Okay then, I give up. I’m out of guesses.”

Harry pouts. “I thought you’d be more creative.”

“Well right now I’m not. But I’m really excited.”

Harry’s eyes drift above Louis’ head. “We need to get out at the next stop.”

Louis turns around because the exit is announced on the left (he knows very little French but he knows what gauche means) and he can feel Harry pressed up against his back, which isn’t really helping with his ‘playing it cool’ plan. At all.

Once they’re outside, Harry checks his phone and nods his head in the direction they’re supposed to be taking. It’s nearly 7:40pm and the sun is not ready to go down yet, but the sky is beautiful and Louis can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

“We’re almost there.” Harry announces and takes a left turn.

There are large buildings down the street and Louis is absolutely clueless as to what is going to happen next.

“And we’re here.” Harry says, stopping in his tracks in front of one of the buildings.

They step inside and Louis can already hear loud voices and laughter as people of all ages roam on a hallway. He can see lockers and a queue for the reception, but he still can’t comprehend what’s really going on.

He checks the banner above the automatic doors.

“Is it…a fucking inflatable theme park?” Louis asks, eyes lighting up.

Harry nods.

“Oh my _God_ I can’t believe this.” Louis gasps, genuinely surprised.

“I mean-I know it’s childish but like-“

“No, oh my, I love the idea.”

Louis has been to Inflata Nation with his sisters in Manchester, and he always loved it. His sisters were more of an excuse to go there, because even though it’s for all age groups, he felt like he needed an excuse for such an activity.

“There’s one in Cheshire as well and I used to love going there as a child and with my friends when we got high and we had so much fun so I thought this would be a great place for a first date.” Harry rambles, trying to find arguments as to why this is a good first date. And Louis is so endeared and excited about it he could scream.

They fill out a form which states that they’re not suffering for any threatening illnesses and that they’re over 18 and responsible for any type of accident they may bring on themselves, before they get in line for the bracelets.

Louis isn’t really surprised to see that they’re not the only adults there and that there are more people over 18 than under.

“I have a reservation under ‘Styles’?” Harry tells the girl behind the table who checks off his name and then places a paper bracelet on their wrists.

They find the tiny locker room to leave their belongings and Louis tries to contain his excitement as he takes off his sweatshirt because he always used to get really hot after jumping around or playing with his sisters in the ball pit.

There’s a five-minute instruction video that’s being played for them right before they’re let inside the giant inflatable park, but all Louis can focus on is Harry tying his curls up in a tiny bun.

There are so many things to do and Louis doesn’t really know where to start because he knows they’ve only got one hour until they’re asked to leave.

He races Harry to one of the giant inflatable slides and it turns out that climbing all the way to the top is way more complicated than expected because there are a few obstacles on the way and Louis might be too old to keep up.

Harry jumps over the ball pit and through the inflatable circles, crawling through the small space and grabbing onto the steps to pull himself up and get to the top of the slide before Louis.

But Louis has done this before and with him being competitive and all, he grabs Harry’s pants, trying to pull him down.

“That’s cheating!” Harry whines, trying to get rid of Louis’ grasp but failing miserably as he falls back down on the mattress at the bottom of the steps.

“All’s fair in love and war babe.” Louis laughs and quickly climbs up to the top.

There’s a little girl who waits for someone and the bottom to get out of the way so she can slide down, so Louis gets on his knees and smiles at her.

“You’re competitive huh?” Harry asks, out of breath, as he reaches the top, just as the girl slides down, screaming.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t think I’d be like this.” Louis teases and changes his position so he’s sitting down, ready to slide. But Harry’s so close and smells so good that he can’t really bring himself to go yet.

“I kind of figured.” Harry laughs, shuffling closer on his knees so he’s basically in Louis’ personal bubble. “But you know what?”

And _okay_ , he’s really close now and Louis leans in even more.

“What?” Louis whispers.

Harry licks his lips and closes the distance between them. Louis thinks he’s going to be kissed so he leans in as well, but then Harry smirks. “So am I.”

Harry laughs as he gives Louis a push, strong enough to send him down laughing.

Louis flips him off and decides that it’s time to hide from him and eventually scare him so he can get a taste of his own medicine.

There’s an inflatable labyrinth on the far left and Louis knows it’s probably where Harry will come looking for him, so he runs over there, nearly slipping on his socks and falling flat on his face.

He passes the giant jungle and finds climbs up on the wall so he can peak down at the entire park and locate Harry. He finds him just by the base of the slide, looking around confused, trying to find Louis.

Harry’s eyes settle on the labyrinth and he starts walking over, so Louis climbs off the wall and walks behind a corner, ready to scare him.

Harry curses, letting Louis know that he’s close, so Louis counts down before jumping out to scare him, but there’s no one there.

“What-“

“BOO!” He hears someone from behind and nearly has a heart attack as he loses his balance and falls on down, flat on his ass.

“Nice try.” Harry laughs, crossing his arms over his chest, which causes his biceps to bulge out, giving Louis one of the best views he’s ever seen in his life.

“Fuck. Wasn’t expecting that.” Louis mumbles and extends his leg to kick at Harry’s ankles and make him fall down. He succeeds, but he’s never been an expert in physics, because Harry trips and falls over him, knocking their heads together.

“Shit, that hurt.” Harry laughs and rubs his forehead with one hand, the other too busy to keep himself over Louis.

“So…you’re on top of me.” Louis concludes and Harry moves so he’s straddling him now.

“You’re good at making statements.”

Louis rolls his eyes and tries to get up, but Harry pins him down by holding his arms over his head. Louis’ eyebrows shoot up.

“This really isn’t a place to get kinky Harold. Children might pass by.”

Harry’s about to say something so Louis catches him off guard by kicking his leg out and rolling them over so he’s on top.

“Hahaa.” He teases and jumps off Harry before he starts running in the opposite direction to get out of the labyrinth before Harry.

He gets lost at one point and thinks he’s about to lose his mind when he finally sees the exit. Harry’s waiting for him outside already and Louis’ jaw drops because that can’t really be right.

“How did you get here first?” he asks Harry in an accusatory tone.

“Magic.”

Louis places a hand on his hip. “You jumped over a wall didn’t you.”

“I might have.” Harry laughs and Louis looks around to find another activity that might involve competing against Harry.

“Race you to that slide?” Louis yells as he’s already running towards it.

He jumps on the steps and tries to climb them as fast as he can, but his major mistake is looking back to see where Harry’s at. The answer is right behind him.

“I quite like the view.” Harry observes and Louis knows he’s blushing.

“Oh really?” Louis smirks, batting his eyelashes.

“Mhmm.”

Louis presses his foot against Harry’s hand that’s holding onto one of the steps so he can send him back down on the ground, laughing at the view.

“I like this view too!” Louis shouts at him before quickly climbing all the way up.

He sits against the wall and waits for Harry though, just so he can rub his victory in his face.

“Took you long enough.” He says, checking out his fingernails in a dramatic way and yawning.

“You play dirty.” Harry tells him and settles down next to him, once again out of breath.

“You giving up already?”

“No way. There’s a duel area where I can knock you off with a giant inflatable sword if you feel like you can take on the challenge.” Harry suggests and Louis agrees to it.

They don’t even have to wait to get their turn because the kids playing on it get intimidated when they see them waiting, so they climb off and hand over the swords.

“Need help?” Harry teases once he’s climbed on the giant cylinder by lifting himself up with his arms.

“No, fuck you.” Louis laughs but accepts Harry’s hand anyway.

They’re standing face to face now, a little bit off balance, but they make it work.

“If I knock you off, you have to admit defeat and say that I’m the best.” Harry says, eyes glimmering in amusement.

“Childish.”

Harry motions his hands at their surroundings. “You realize where we are, right?”

“So what if I knock you off?” Louis asks, gripping into the giant sword.

“You can pick where we go eat after this.”

Louis thinks about it. “Hm…boring.”

“Okay then, what do you want?”

Oh, this could turn real dirty real fast, Louis thinks.

“What do I want? What do I want…”

“Today?” Harry asks and Louis makes a face at him.

“Alright. If I knock you off, you have to…ugh, this is hard. I’ll think of something after I knock you off.”

Harry agrees and then there’s a small pause where they just stare at each other before Louis steps forward and tries to push him off by swinging the sword at his legs.

Fuck Harry and his freakishly long legs that somehow keep him up on an unstable surface. Literally.

Louis changes tactics and goes for the ankles, which eventually causes Harry to trip and fall of, defeated. Louis laughs at him as he throws the sword at him and then climbs off.

“I want you to go on the Ferris Wheel with me the next time we’re at Disneyland.”

“Fuck, you know I’m scared of heights.” Harry pouts and grabs Louis’ extended hand to help him stand back up.

“I know.” Louis mischievously grins. “But you have to accept.”

“Fine.”

They decide to chill in the ball pit for the rest of their remaining time.

“The irony.” Louis chuckles as he jumps in the sea of balls.

“What?”

“It’s a ball pit.”

Harry frowns. “So?”

“I like…balls. It’s a bad pun, whatever.”

“I’m just taking the piss, I got it.”

Louis pouts and Harry throws a ball at him. “You should be laughing then.”

“I did, internally. I swear.” Harry laughs and settles on his back.

“So…what made you decide on bringing me here? I mean besides the fact that it’s really fun.” Louis asks.

Harry chews on his bottom lip. “I remembered you telling me how you miss your sisters and that you used to do so many fun things with them and this was one of them.”

Louis looks at him in awe. “When did I tell you that?”

“Uh…it was the first week of work I think? Like, we were talking about how much fun the children were having on the ‘It’s a Small World’ ride and…yeah. Just stuck with me I guess.”

“I didn’t-I didn’t expect you to actually listen to what I was rambling on about.”

Harry frowns, looking quite offended. “Of course I listen. Always.”

“Really? Should I quiz you?”

“Go ahead.” Harry smirks, just as someone from the staff comes over and tells everyone that time’s up.

“I’m not forgetting about it.” Louis points at him and then stands up to leave the pit.

“Didn’t think you would.” Harry smiles, following him.

★★★

“Where do you want to eat?” Harry asks once they leave the building. The sun is setting and it’s already a bit dark, which Louis absolutely loves. It’s warm enough and it smells like that fresh summer night air, and he knows he doesn’t want the night to end because he’s having way too much fun with Harry.

“’m not really that hungry, but I could go for something sweet. Like ice cream or something.” Louis says.

There’s a moment of silence.

“Frozen yoghurt.” They say at the same time and then laugh.

“I know a good place a few metro stations away.” Harry informs him and then they’re walking to the station.

“So…where did I grow up?” Louis asks.

“Easy. Doncaster.”

“Where am I living now?”

Harry rolls his eyes. “London. Give me something hard.”

Louis smirks at the innuendo and he’s absolutely sure that Harry did it on purpose. Harry’s expression lets him know that he’s right, so Louis pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue and cocks his head.

“Later, but right now tell me which is my favorite Disney movie.”

“The Lion King.”

“How’d you guess that?” Louis asks as they walk down the stairs to the subway.

“Uh, you talk about how much you cry every single time Mufasa dies when you’re drunk.”

As it turns out, Harry actually listens. From Louis having six other siblings to him getting drunk for the first time at the age of seventeen and stripping at a family event, he listened.

The subway is packed with people dressed up to go out and Louis is once again forced to squish himself between a pole and Harry so a lady with a bicycle can have some space.

“I hate public transport.” Louis mutters and makes a face when a drunk guy spills some beer next to him as he tries explaining something to his friends in poor French.

“I think it’s always fun to ride the subway, whether it’s in London or in Paris.”

“Oh yeah, the smell of sweat and alcohol is always fun.” Louis complains and places a hand on Harry’s chest so he won’t lose balance because the same guy from before can’t really keep himself up straight.

Louis scoffs and Harry laughs because apparently it’s ‘fun’.

The frozen yoghurt place Harry’s talking about is right next to the Eiffel Tower, so after they each get a portion, they walk towards the park to watch it light up.

“I can’t believe I’m going back to boring England in six weeks.” Louis mumbles once they’ve settled down on a bench to eat their yoghurts.

“Yeah, I kind of like it here too.” Harry smiles at him and then licks everything off his plastic spoon.

Louis kind of wants to congratulate him on his long tongue but stops himself, because the tower just started sparkling and he feels the need to share this with his Instagram followers.

He takes his phone out for the first time since he left the house and ignores the texts from Zayn and Niall as he films the basic Boomerang.

Zayn replies to his story with _‘how’s it going????’_ and Louis replies by clicking the heart on the right of the screen, then pockets his phone.

He watches Harry as he gets up to go and throw the cup in the bin, and the first thing Louis thinks of when he sits back down is that he’s got really shiny lips. Beautiful.

“You know what I can’t really decipher?” Louis asks, dramatically gesturing with his spoon.

“Hm?”

Louis turns his head to lock eyes with him. “Why you haven’t kissed me all damn day.”

Harry’s speechless for a moment but comes back to reality soon enough and cups Louis’ cheek to bring their mouths together.

Louis feels like he’s been swallowed up by an ocean of emotions and feelings and there’s a whirlwind in his stomach, like that feeling of going down on a rollercoaster where you’re screaming of joy and fear at the same time.

Harry’s lips are soft and warm and he tastes like chocolate and bubblegum sprinkles (who the fuck actually likes bubblegum sprinkles???!!), so Louis pushes his tongue further into Harry’s mouth and decides to straddle him in order to get more comfortable. He brings his arms around Harry’s neck, frozen yoghurt still in hand as they kiss for what seems like hours.

He’s aware of the fact that they’re in the middle of a public park, but Harry’s warm and exciting and makes Louis feel something he hasn’t felt in ages. Harry’s hands run from his face down his back and settle on his ass, and it takes every fiber of Louis’ being not to grind up against him.

Louis tilts his head and deepens the kiss, completely forgetting about the fact that he’s still got some yoghurt left and that people may be watching.

When Louis eventually pulls back (although he wouldn’t mind doing it for the next five minutes or maybe five lifetimes), Harry’s lips are a bit swollen and he’s looking up at him like he’s the sun.

Louis smiles back and brings the cup between them so he can eat the rest of his well-deserved yoghurt, which apparently seems pretty funny to Harry.

“I love this. Oh my god, best shit ever.” Louis moans as he takes a spoonful into his mouth. “Want some?”

Harry laughs and shakes his head. “No thanks, enjoy it.”

Louis shrugs, secretly happy that he gets to finish it on his own before checking the time on his phone, still straddling Harry.

“Shit, it’s already half past ten, what the fuck?” Louis exclaims and settles his empty cup next to them on the bench.

“We should-I’ve got work tomorrow.” Harry says.

“I don’t, but waking up at eight is always a bitch. And weekend shifts are the worst.” Louis agrees, still not budging from Harry’s lap.

“So, should we go-“

Louis takes his face in his hands and kisses him again. He thinks that the feeling of not wanting a great night to end but knowing it eventually will is one of the worst things in the world for him right now.

When he eventually pulls back from the kiss and gets up from Harry’s lap, he pouts.

“Which direction are you headed?” he asks Harry when they’re back at the subway station.

“I’m taking this one.” Harry points to the subway that just rolls into the station.

“Oh, okay. I’ll see you…when?”

“Uh…well, that’s the thing. I fly back home tomorrow night for a week-one of my best mates turns 25 and he has this whole thing planned and I took the whole week off so I can also go home and visit my mum in Cheshire.”

Louis’ face falls, but he tries to hide it. “So I’ll see you…in two Mondays?”

“Definitely.” Harry grins and leans down to press another kiss to Louis’ lips before he hurries to get to the doors in front of the crowd of people trying to fit in the small compartment.

He’s not ready to deal with Zayn’s questions when he gets home because he’s still on a high, so he rushes through the living room and into the bathroom to get ready for bed, with the biggest smile on his face and in his heart, even though he won’t get to see the reason behind it for the next eight days.

“So are we going to talk about tonight or…?” Zayn asks, coming into Louis’ room ten minutes later.

Louis groans, looking up from his phone.

“Did it go bad? Is this why you don’t want to talk about it?”

“No. It went great, I had such a fun time. I felt alive the whole time and it’s so weird and we kissed-“

“Where did he take you?”

“You know Inflata Nations?”

Zayn nods.

“Something like that.”

“Holy shit. It’s basically like a Fast Lane ticket into your pants. And knows it too, I think.” Zayn laughs.

“Exactly.” Louis points at him. “But the thing is-I don’t know. Like, he obviously also lives in London so-I don’t know. I don’t want to say anything else, I don’t want to jinx anything, but I really like him and it went great.”

“It’s good seeing you happy Lou.” Zayn smiles and leans against the door.

“Yeah, well he’s leaving tomorrow night and he’s got work and I won’t see him until…what day is it today?”

“27th.”

“Yeah, I’ll see him on August 6th or something like that.” Louis mumbles, and he hates himself for already seeing the bad in the whole situation.

“But you’ll still have the rest of August and then London Lou. Don’t do this.”

“Yeah, I know I know. Taking it slow, but it’s hard when you’re happy.”

Zayn smirks at that.

“But what if he meets an ex back home and-" 

“Louis, go to sleep right now and don’t get into your head too much, okay?”

Louis nods, just as his phone vibrates, signaling a text from Harry.

“Is that him?”

Louis nods, biting down his smile.

“Goodnight then.” Zayn winks and steps back out of the room, closing the door.

Louis smiles as he reads the text. A week isn’t a big deal.

★★★

As it turns out, a week is a big deal when he doesn’t get to see Harry’s curls or his face every day, and to top it all off, it is an even bigger deal when he finds out that Nick also went with him because it’s a ‘mutual friend’.

So for the past week, he’s been forced to look over at a new Prince Charming who doesn’t do Harry justice, and it doesn’t help that Zayn’s also been complaining about him complaining.

“I think it’s the first time in my entire life where I’m actually happy about going to work at nine in the morning.” Louis says in the changing rooms on Wednesday. Niall made sure to come into the changing rooms ten minutes ago and hand them the schedule for the day, so Louis knows he’ll only see Harry at five before and during the parade, because his M&G is on Main Street and Louis’ is by the Peter Pan ride.

It’s half past three and Louis’ M&G has just finished when his phone buzzes in his back pocket.

 **Harry:** what are you doing?

 **Louis:** just finished m&g. you?

 **Harry:** same

 **Louis:** want to come on the Peter Pan Flight with me?

 **Harry:** sure, b there in 10 mins

Louis smiles and pockets his phone, only to look up and see Nick looking back at him expectantly.

“Yes?” Louis asks.

“So I hear you and Harold went out.”

Louis sits down on the bench in the staff-only area. “Mhm. And?”

“Nothing, I’m just happy he’s happy and I really hope you won’t take him for granted.”

Louis rolls his eyes. “I would never.”

“Okay, just making sure. Because there’s other people who wouldn’t.”

Before Louis can even ask what he means, he sees Harry walking towards them in his Prince Charming outfit but without the jacket, which basically means that he’s got a tight blouse on with the sleeves rolled up.

Louis’ stomach does a backflip as he stands up to greet him with a hug.

“Good seeing you again curly.” Louis smiles, taking a step back from him.

Harry returns the smile. “Same.”

They get in line for the Peter Pan ride but they don’t really get to talk because every single child there wants to take photos and hug him. Wearing a Peter Pan costume on a Peter pan ride maybe wasn’t the wisest idea, but they eventually get into their own boat.

“I’ve never been on this ride. There’s always a long queue.” Harry says.

“What? It’s one of my favorites.” Louis gasps. “What other rides haven’t you tried out?”

“Uh…RC Racers, Ratatouille and the Ferris Wheel, of course.”

Louis shakes his head. “I cannot believe my ears. That’s gotta change.”

“It can.” Harry smiles. “But what about you?”

Louis is too focused on his lips and them being so close in a dark space to actually hear the question the first time.

“Huh?”

“What rides haven’t you been on yet?”

Louis pokes his tongue out in the corner of his mouth. “Well…” he trails off, looking down at Harry’s lap for a swift second. When he looks back up, Harry’s face is closer.

“I think that can be changed too.” Harry breathes and Louis doesn’t miss a second, closing the gap between them.

It’s even hotter than Louis remembers it being in the park, or ever before that, because Harry’s hands are everywhere and his curls feel soft in Louis’, and he tastes like candy cane.

“You’re not even paying attention to the ride.” Louis breathes into his mouth.

“This is much more interesting.” Harry says, squeezing his ass.

“Fuck-we-it’s a-fuck.”

Louis gulps and pulls back when the doors open, meaning they’ve reached the end of the ride. He motions to the guy who handles the ride to let them have another go and he nods. One of the perks of working at Disneyland is that you can basically go on a ride as many times as you want.

“Now pay attention because-“ Louis starts but Harry’s kissing him again and Louis doesn’t really object because feeling Harry smiling into the kiss beats everything they should be seeing on the ride.

They eventually pay attention the fifth time, not because they actually want to, but because they have to get back to the changing rooms in time for the parade.

The Peter Pan float is different this time and it’s one of Louis’ favorites, because it means he gets to swing alone on a boat on the top as he waves to the children and parents watching them.

They wrap it up successfully an hour later but as soon as he goes into the changing rooms, Shawn is there with a stern look on his face, holding a binder.

“Great, you’re here. I’ve got something to talk to you about.” He starts and points to a door that leads to one of his makeshift offices.

Harry’s already in there and Louis is getting a bit worried right about now.

“So I’m going to keep it short because I know you’re already off work.” Shawn starts, sitting down on the desk as Louis takes a seat on the chair next to Harry’s.

Shawn places four photos in front of them and Louis’ eyes widen. They’re photos from the Peter Pan ride that people can purchase after they’ve been on it. Which means that a lot of people might’ve just seen Prince Charming making out with Peter Pan. Fuck.

“You know about our new policy, and also, fooling around on rides is strictly prohibited, you know that.” Shawn tells them. “I’m not firing you, but this is coming from above and I can’t really do anything about it, so I’ll let you off with a warning this time. You’re lucky I caught these before someone else did.”

Harry nods, telling him that it won’t happen again.

“Is there anything else you’d like to add?” Shawn asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

Louis nods. “Yeah. Can I get some copies of those?”

Harry lets out a loud laugh and then slams his hand over his mouth.

“Okay, we’re done here then.” Shawn shakes his head, but nonetheless hands him the photos before Louis is out the door.

★★★

Louis doesn’t work the next day but Harry does, so he goes to visit around seven when he knows Harry’s off work. He also knows that Harry’s got an appointment at nine and the only time they’ll get to see each other until the weekend is today.

“Long day huh?” he asks when he sees Harry in the changing room, putting his All Stars on.

“Yeah, been here since ten.” Harry groans and runs a hand through his hair before standing up. “But all better now.” he grins.

“Oh, is it?” Louis asks, wiggling his eyebrows as he steps closer.

“Mhmm.” Harry sexily answers and Louis feels a wave of heat overcome his entire body when he sees Harry leaning in.

“Someone could walk in.” Louis says between kisses, fumbling with the hem of Harry’s tank top.

Harry bites his lip and nods over to the door to Shawn’s ‘office’. Louis mischievously grins and pulls him along.

The door closes with Harry pinned against it, and as soon as Harry’s lips are back on his, Louis can feel his semi against his own.

“Can I-“ he starts but the look in Harry’s eyes is everything he needs before he drops down to his knees.

“Holy fucking shit.” Harry gasps as he looks down at Louis.

“Not yet.” Louis winks, unbuttoning Harry’s jeans and pulling down his zipper before he pushes his pants all the way down to his ankles, together with his briefs.

“Wow, okay. Pretty.”

Harry blushes when Louis looks up at him, so he gives a reassuring smile and doesn’t lose eye contact as he takes Harry into his mouth as far as he can.

One thing Louis’ always taken pride in was the fact that his gag reflex is basically non-existent, and it looks like Harry’s also kind of liking that right now.

“Shit, Louis-you’re-ahh.” Harry stutters and places one of his hands on the back of Louis’ head to guide him.

“Mhmm.” Louis says around Harry’s cock and it sends vibrations down Harry’s spine, who couldn’t look more ecstatic if he tried.

He doesn’t really use his hands, which are resting against Harry’s thighs at the moment, but he can hear voices outside the door so he decides to speed up the process. One hand shoots out to lock the door behind Harry and the other wraps around his hard cock to pump rhythmically as he keeps on sucking.

Louis pulls away for a moment while his hand continues working to look up at Harry.

“’m not trying to be a mood killer or anything but I kind of need to speed things up if you don’t want people to start knocking on the door.” He laughs, and doesn’t give Harry a chance to respond before he’s back, sucking his dick into his mouth.

His tongue circles his head in quick motions and he smirks around the head when he feels Harry’s fingers tightening in his hair. A hand goes out to massage his balls and Harry’s dick is basically pulsing at this point so Louis thinks it would be a good time to bring out his ‘knockout move’.

He presses his tongue flat against Harry’s head and massages it like that, and the next thing he knows is Harry asking him if he can come into his mouth. Louis gives a small nod, winks, and then there’s warm, salt-vinegary liquid shooting down his throat.

Louis swallows everything up and then sucks him back into his mouth before he pops the head out and gives it a quick kiss.

When he stands up, Harry grabs the back of his head and kisses him.

“That was…fucking amazing. And fast. I’m sorry-“ Harry says between kisses and Louis shakes his head.

“Are you kidding? I take it as a compliment.”

Harry smiles and Louis wipes his mouth as he waits for Harry to put his pants back on and get his curls out of his face.

“You know, it’s going to look pretty obvious right about now, when we both leave the room together.” Harry chuckles as Louis unlocks the door.

“I couldn’t give a fuck.” Louis laughs and then walks out, Harry in tow.

Zayn, Niall and Liam are all in the changing rooms talking about the upcoming weekend when they stop to look at the two of them.

“What’s up?” Zayn asks, not even trying to hide his shit-eating grin.

“Well right now, nothing.” Louis says and waits for Harry to gather his belongings. “I’ll see you at home okay?”

Zayn nods and makes a ‘I’m watching you’ motion with two of his fingers before Louis and Harry are out the door.

“That wasn’t obvious.” Harry laughs.

“I mean, as if they don’t know what’s been going on for some time now.”

“That’s true.”

The RER is crowded (as expected) but Louis manages to find two empty seats since the journey back home is about thirty minutes long.

“So how was being back home like?” Louis asks once they’ve settled down and the train starts moving.

“Really good. My mom didn’t know I was coming and she was really happy, almost cried. And I also got to see my sister but I always kind of see her since she’s also in London.”

“Whoa, I haven’t seen my sisters in…ages. I don’t even know. I see Lottie the most.”

“What about your mom?”

Louis heart starts beating faster, because it’s a sensitive subject.

“Uh…she died.” Louis says, jaw clenching.

“Oh-I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“I’m-yeah. She battled leukemia and it was hard because we were really close but I don’t really like talking about it. I like to think of the all the happy moments we had before that.”

Harry places a hand on his knee. “I understand.”

Louis sadly smiles at him.

“My stepfather also had cancer and passed away over a year ago.”

It wasn’t what Louis expected, but he places his hand over Harry’s and thinks about changing the subject. If there’s anything he wants right now, is to talk about literally anything else, because it’s not a subject he wants to get into right now, and he’s pretty sure Harry doesn’t want that either. But it's out there, and just knowing that someone understands means so much to him.

“So where do you know Nick from? And why do you always drink kale smoothies?”

Harry laughs at that and Louis removes his hand because he’s not sure if Harry’s comfortable enough, but then Harry pulls his leg over his right thigh and everything feels much more comfortable, even if it’s in a crowded train.

“Nick used to work at the bakery with me before he became a stand-up comedian in London.”

“As IF he’s a stand-up comedian!” Louis exclaims.

Harry shakes his head. “Cross my heart. He’s actually really funny, it’s a shame you two don’t get along.”

“It’s not that we don’t get along, it’s just that-yeah, that’s pretty much it. I don’t even know why.”

Louis wants to ask if they ever had a ‘thing’ because he knows for a fact that Nick’s also gay, but he refrains himself from doing so.

“We never did anything if that’s what you’re thinking about right now.” Harry laughs and Louis purses his lips and rolls his eyes, smiling.

“Yeah, okay. That’s what I was wondering.”

“It would be like…I don’t know, he’s like my older brother.”

“Or grandfather.” Louis mumbles.

“And the kale thing…I don’t know, I like being healthy? It’s not my favorite thing in the world but yeah.”

Louis scrunches his nose.

“One of these days I’m going to make you drink one too and you’re going to fucking love it.” Harry concludes.

“Oh, am I?” Louis smiles and Harry nods, leaning in closer.

Louis’ eyes fall down to his mouth and then he kisses him softly. He’s never been one for PDA (even though the whole thing in the park begs to differ), so they keep it PG for a few moments before they pull away.

“Let me ask you a question.” Louis deadpans.

Harry turns serious. “Hm?”

“Do you also eat avocado on toast?”

Harry starts laughing. “Oh my God. Yeah I do.”

“Of course you fucking do.”

“What do you eat for breakfast then?” Harry asks, looking offended.

“Well recently it’s been coffee and cigarettes, but when I’m back home I sometimes eat like homemade croissants or shit like that. You know, those you can buy, defrost and make in the oven. Takes ten minutes.”

Harry shakes his head. “Dear lord, that’s outrageous.”

“What’s outrageous is you drinking gross-“

Harry shuts him up with a kiss and Louis laughs into it, letting himself be kissed. The butterflies in his stomach agree with his decision and they almost miss their stop because they end up talking about whether tangerines are better than oranges (they end up disagreeing so it’s Louis’ turn to shut Harry up by kissing him).

★★★

Harry doesn’t have work on Friday so Louis plans on convincing him to go on the Ferris Wheel during the light show that takes place at nine. He hasn’t seen Harry since Thursday when the whole ‘blowjob incident’ (is there really another way to call it??) happened, and they’ve got three more weeks left until they leave the happiest place on Earth, so he plans on making every moment count.

Zayn keeps telling him to stop talking about their time in Paris like he won’t ever see Harry again (“You both live in London for fuck’s sake Louis!”), but Louis always goes by the ‘hoping for the best but expecting the worst’ motto.

“You know, the best place to watch the light show from is the Ferris Wheel.” Louis tells Harry when they’re headed down towards the castle. Main Street is pretty crowded right now with people who are coming to watch the show, and even though the park is already closed, Louis knows he can get his friend Tom who operates a couple of rides to start the Ferris Wheel and make him stop it once they’re at the top.

“Shit, I’m afraid of heights.” Harry whines as Louis taps on his back reassuringly.

“It’s going to be fine. I mean, it’s a closed space so...”

“Yeah, okay. I’m excited. I’ve never seen the lightshow before either.”

Louis’ jaw drops. “Are you actually a Disneyland virgin babe?” he laughs and Harry flips him off with a smile.

Everyone from their work is gathered in the staff-only area by the castle, ready to watch the light show at nine, so they say hi before they’re headed towards the Ferris Wheel where Tom is waiting for them already.

“I thought you weren’t coming.” Tom says as he shakes their hands.

“Oh we came alright.” Louis tells him with a serious expression, which sends Harry into a fit of laughter.

Tom shakes his head because he’s not really dumb, and then presses a couple of buttons to open up the cable car at the bottom.

“Have fun and text me when you want to come down. My girlfriend’s waiting for me.” Tom tells them and Louis claps him on his back before he walks over to the gondola.

They get in and the doors close a few seconds later, before they slowly start moving.

“You okay?” he asks Harry.

“Yeah, it’s not that bad. You can see everything from here. Beautiful.”

“I know right?” Louis asks from where he squished his face against the glass to watch over the park.

They come to a halt at the very top and there’s still twenty minutes left until nine.

“Oh, by the way, I got you something.” Harry says and opens the mysterious paper bag he came with.

“You’re not being serious right now.” Louis tells him when he sees the green smoothie.

“Oh, I’m deadly serious. Here you go.”

Louis hesitantly takes the smoothie and makes a dramatically disgusted face when he takes his first sip.

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad. I asked for extra sugar.”

“It’s fine.” Louis says and leans over to Harry’s side to press a kiss to his lips.

He wants to pull back but Harry leans forward to catch his lips into another kiss and soon enough Louis forgets about his smoothie and goes to straddle him on the bench.

“But the light-“ Harry starts.

“It’s not even nine. Got twenty more minutes.”

“Oh. There’s a lot we can do in twenty minutes.” Harry mumbles against his lips and Louis nods.

Harry’s hand go down between the two of them to unbutton Louis’ fly.

“This-wait.” Harry groans and turns them around so Louis is sitting down on the bench and Harry’s on his knees between his legs.

Only you would get me popping a semi in two minutes, Louis thinks but doesn’t say it as he lifts his ass up to let his pants and briefs slide down to his ankles.

“Fuuuuck.” He moans when Harry takes him into his mouth and looks up to see if he likes it.

“This isn’t working.” Harry says and pulls back, leaving Louis cock cold. Before Louis even gets to ask what he means, Harry pulls off his Vans in one swift motion and then his pants. “Better now.”

Louis groans and runs a hand through Harry’s soft curls, watching him go up and down in slow motions. There are a few feelings that can top this right now, so Louis gets an idea. He’s not really sure if Harry will even agree to it, but it’s worth a try.

“How about-ahh.”

Harry does a thing with his tongue on his head that makes him see stars so he postpones it until after he cums.

“So, my face or my mouth?” Harry asks after he pulls away with a popping sound and continues pumping Louis’ cock with his right hand.

“Shit-you can’t just say things like that.”

Harry continues giving him a handjob with expectations in his eyes.

“Surprise me.” Louis groans and Harry shoots him a mischievous smirk before he takes him back into his mouth.

Two minutes later Louis is coming into his mouth with a deep moan and Harry doesn’t pull off until Louis tugs at his hair. When he comes back up to kiss him, Louis bites down on his bottom lip.

“You know what I’m thinking right now?” Louis asks between kisses as they both stand up at the same time, still kissing.

“What?”

Louis’ hand goes down between Harry’s legs to squeeze his hard-on.

“I’m thinking…that maybe I want to try out the only ride I haven’t been on in this park.”

Harry groans. “Fuck yeah. But-“

“My wallet.”

Louis looks squats down to look through his jeans and opens his wallet to pull out a condom and a packet of lube.

“So how do you want to-“ Harry starts but Louis is already pushing him down on the opposite bench.

“I said I want to try out a _ride_ , pay attention.”

“You’re so hot when you’re bossy, holy shit.”

Louis gets to work on Harry’s pants, who’s busy toeing off his shoes and helping him out.

When he straddles Harry’s thighs, their cocks brush against each other, and Louis’ looks freakishly small in comparison to Harry’s hard one. Harry wraps his hand around Louis’ shaft as Louis rips the packet of lube.

“Let me.” Harry says and Louis continues where Harry left off.

Harry lubes up two of his fingers and brings one down between Louis’ legs.

“Go slow at first, I haven’t-it’s been a while.” Louis tells him out of breath and Harry does just that, slowly entering his middle finger. Louis knew that taking a shower right after work would eventually come in handy one day, and this is it.

“Your fingers are so fuck…ing long.”

He wraps his hands around both their cocks and starts slowly pumping as he grinds back against Harry’s hand.

“Second one.” He says and then leans over to kiss Harry.

Harry obliges and opens his mouth so their tongues can touch. It’s so hot, and it’s one of the best (if not _the_ best) experiences of Louis’ life. Harry’s fingers feel so good and they’re the longest Louis’ ever had, he thinks he could come just from this.

“More lube.” He tells Harry who pulls his fingers out and rips the condom open to roll it down his cock as Louis squeezes the remains of the lube over it.

Louis lifts himself up on his knees and grabs Harry’s cock to try and position it behind himself. Here it fucking goes.

He slowly slides down on Harry’s cock and his mind is just aljfhkgkkhafgkf at the moment because it feels _so good_ and he’s dreamt about this a few times since he first saw Harry.

Harry, who walked into his life with a charming smile and baby Tarzan curls and whose hands are on his asscheeks right now, slowly guiding him up and down while asking if he’s okay.

“Yeah, I’m fucking great.” Louis breathes and lets down his chin to kiss him.

“You feel so good, you have no idea.” Harry whispers against his lips and Louis grabs the base of his neck with both of his hands as he kisses him, deep and slow, just like he’s fucking him right now.

When he adjusts himself to Harry’s length he slaps Harry’s hands away from his ass. Louis moves his hands from Harry’s neck to his shoulders for balance and then starts properly riding him, ass bouncing and everything.

“You’re good.” Harry observes in a guttural moan and slaps his ass.

“The best of your life baby.” Louis breathlessly chuckles and slows down to grind up against him, purposefully clenching around him.

Harry’s tongue is on his neck and he’s kissing and licking and Louis should’ve known that Harry would quickly figure out that neck kisses are the one thing that will get him like putty in his hands.

A few minutes later Louis’ thighs are starting to burn and Harry figures it’s time to take control of the situation so he keeps Louis’ ass in place and starts fucking up into him with quick thrusts.

“This-don’t stop.” Louis moans, almost yelling, digging his nose in Harry’s neck and biting down on it because it feels too good for words.

He’s about to make a remark about how he also has a prostate when Harry fucking finds it, and Louis sees black in front of his eyes, because he’s just lost them somewhere in the back of his head.

“OH fuUUCK I’m gonna-“

“Not yet.” Harry shuts him up with a kiss before he pulls out and slaps Louis’ ass to step aside.

“The show is starting.” Louis notices and then Harry’s behind him, pressing a warm hand between his shoulder blades so he can get Louis with one knee on the bench.

“Ass up.” Harry says and it’s different, because he’s taking control and it’s so hot Louis can’t even bother to make a snarky remark.

Harry enters him from behind and Louis’ cheek is nearly pushed against the glass, but then Harry’s hand comes around his neck to keep his head up as he fucks into him.

“This way we both get to watch.” Harry says into his neck and wraps the other hand around Louis’ cock, pumping.

“I don’t think-I’m going to come.” Louis whines and it’s almost impossible because it kind of hurts but it’s a good kind of hurt, because the pleasure is too much to handle right now.

Then Harry’s kissing his neck and speeding up his thrusts and pumps and Louis is coming into Harry’s hand. It’s so euphoric, he’s literally seeing fireworks, not really sure whether they’re in his head or in front of his eyes but all he knows is that he’s been taken to Nirvana.

He can feel Harry filling up the condom inside him and his arms are the only thing keeping Louis from falling down.

Harry kisses his neck for a few moments as they watch the castle from above, only to pull out a few seconds later.

Louis happily sighs and pushes himself off the bench.

“That was-“ he starts.

“Amazing.” Harry finishes the sentence for him as he pulls the condom off and places it in the empty paper bag the smoothie came in, before he wipes his come stained hand on a napkin and throws that in there too.

“Yeah.”

They get dressed quickly and when Louis tries to sit down, he winces and stands back up.

“Can’t sit down?” Harry laughs and Louis shakes his head.

“Your fault.” Louis pouts, so Harry cocks his head and grabs him by the waist to pull him into his lap.

He watches the show over Louis’ shoulder, hands wrapped around his waist, but Louis can’t really focus on the castle right now. How can he, really, when the most beautiful guy he’s ever seen is right there, holding him and pressing kisses on his neck?

As soon as the show ends the wheel starts moving again.

“I don’t want to get back to the real world.” Louis whines and Harry pulls him into a kiss by the back of his head.

They thank Tom for the favor and then go into the staff-only area by the castle to find their friends.

“Where have you been?” Zayn asks. “Haven’t seen you in over an hour.”

“Watched it from the top of the Ferris Wheel.” Louis tells him, just as Nick comes over and hands Harry his phone.

“You got a call from Jack. He said that you two should do it again some time this week because he leaves for Barbados on Wednesday.” Nick lets Harry know, and it’s all Louis needs to feel like the sky just came crashing down on him.

Harry looks at Louis, who couldn’t be more disappointed if he tried.

“Jack?” Louis asks, voice cracking.

How can one person handle going from being on top of the world (literally) to the bottom of the fucking ocean? It hurts more than he could’ve ever imagined, and the fact that Zayn and everyone else is also a witness to this makes everything ever worse.

“Yeah, he’s-a friend.”

“Ah. So that was your appointment this week.”

“Yeah, but-“

Louis shakes his head. It’s way too familiar, the whole situation. “No, it’s fine. I got it. Don’t know what I was expecting anyway. Thanks for-yeah. Well. We should go.” He says to Zayn.

“Louis.” Harry calls but Louis doesn’t even look back as he says goodbye to everyone and then waits for Zayn so they can go home.

He manages to keep his emotions at bay all the way to their apartment, where he breaks down in his room.

“I told you, I told you I shouldn’t-and I slept with him-I’m done. This is why I don’t trust people and why I don’t make the first move.” Louis says, because he knows Zayn’s in the door.

Zayn has seen it all before two years ago with Matt, when Louis found out that his boyfriend of two and a half years had been cheating on him with one of his friends for about half the time they’ve been together.

“Lou, babe-“

“No, whatever. I’m fine. Really. Just a spur of a moment kind of heartbreak.”

He’s lying. Zayn knows he’s lying. Louis knows that Zayn knows that he’s lying. But lying to himself right now is what’s keeping him from actually admitting the fact that he was starting to fall for someone who just played him like he’s been played in the past.

★★★

Niall and Shawn are hosting a party on Tuesday since there’s no work on the 15th because of a national holiday, but Louis is kind of dreading it since he heard Nick telling Harry that ‘Jack said that you should do it again sometime’.

“I don’t think I want to go.” Louis tells Zayn that evening before Zayn starts to get ready.

“Yeah, you’re coming. We’re leaving Paris in ten days and you’re not going to let this whole Harry thing get in the way of you having fun. If you say you’re not bothered, then act like it.”

“I’m not bothered.” Louis grumbles.

He’s very bothered. He’s bothered because he rushed into the whole thing. Who starts falling for someone after they met just two months ago? Not Louis, that’s for sure.

“Yeah, okay, then go put on your best clothes and let’s go.” Zayn tells him.

If Louis has been able to avoid Harry’s calls and Harry at work for the past two days, he can do it for a night and the next ten to come. So he makes sure to put on his best jeans and his favorite tight blue shirt that makes his eyes pop out.

“How do I look?” he asks Zayn when he comes out of his room, flattening his shirt.

“Like I would eat you if-“

“Okay, thanks.” Louis laughs and grabs his wallet and cigarettes from the coffee table. “You ready?”

“Yeah.”

They arrive with the taxi fifteen minutes later (because they’re always too lazy to actually take the metro), and Louis is dreading it with each second that passes on the way up to the flat. He’s questioning his decision to come here when the door opens before he even gets to knock on it and Niall yells at them in greeting.

“FINALLY! We’re just starting with beer pong!” he exclaims. “And we need one more person!”

“I’m going to find Liam, he’s all yours.” Zayn tells Niall and before Louis even gets to tell him off, Zayn disappears.

Niall pulls Louis along into the living room and hands him a small white ping pong ball.

“Here you go. You’re on Nick’s team, and I’m with Harry.” he tells Louis, before he walks over to the other side of the table.

It’s only now that Louis looks at Harry, who looks flawless and breathtaking as usual. Harry smiles at him, but it’s a sad smile, and Louis just nods before he turns to Nick.

“Let’s win this.” he tells the older man and Nick nods.

It’s a surprise, really, that him and Nick are getting along as good as they are, even laughing a few times here and there.

The problem is, it looks like Harry and Niall are about to win, but then Nick scores, Niall misses, and Louis also scores, which makes it one to one.

Harry throws the ball and it flies right by the cup, so it’s up to Nick to win this.

“Don’t mess this up old man.” Louis says and Nick flips him the bird before he throws it and…it lands in the cup, which causes Louis to scream out and jump to hug him.

Nick is surprised but leans into the hug, rubbing their victory in Niall and Harry’s faces.

“Celebratory spliff?” Nick suggests and who is Louis to say no to such an offer? He’s tipsy anyway and he’d do anything at this point to just forget that Harry’s standing there looking like a sad puppy.

There’s no one on the balcony so Louis sits down on one of the two chairs by the small table as Nick lights the spliff.

“Ten days left and now you decide to be nice to me.” Nick laughs after he takes the first drag.

“Well…yeah.”

Louis isn’t really sure what to say.

“I think I know why you were so snarky with me.” Nick continues, pointing the spliff at him and smiling.

“Oh, enlighten me.” Louis sarcastically answers and takes it from his fingers.

“You thought I had something with Harry.”

Louis rolls his eyes and lets the smoke out through his nostrils. “Bullshit.”

“No, I know it’s true. And I also know that you know that we never had a thing now.”

“You were rude first though.” Louis tells him and hands it over.

“Yeah, I know. The thing with Harry is-I’ve known him for a long time now, so I’ve seen him get hurt. He’s got a big heart and he lets himself fall too fast for the wrong people, so I was just being protective. He’s too nice and pure for his own good.”

Louis nods. “I wouldn’t-I would never do something to hurt him, you know. I was the one who got hurt. Sort of.”

(He’s still lying to himself that he doesn’t care and that he’s not really hurt. Nick is seeing right through it.)

“You didn’t even give him a chance to explain, and maybe I can understand that because I don’t know what you’ve been through in your life.”

“I’ve been lied to before, and the whole ‘it’s not what it looks like thing’…I’ve heard it before. I got déjà vu and I just-I can’t go through that again. So it’s better if I leave it like it is.”

“I think that’s where you’re wrong.”

“You’re hogging the spliff.”

Nick hands it back to him. “So as I was saying, I think you should talk it out.”

“But there’s nothing to talk about though. We weren’t in a relationship, we had like two or three dates-“

“And tens of tiny dates in the hallway and the bathroom when no one could see weeks before that, but go on.” Nick adds.

“What I mean is, he didn’t cheat, I’m not mad at him. I just want to distance myself and it’s better this way before things actually get complicated.”

“They don’t have to be complicated though-“ Nick starts but Harry chooses that moment to step onto the balcony and interrupt them.

Nick excuses himself by saying he has to use the loo, which is as obvious as a freight train, leaving Louis alone with Harry.

“I know you’re mad. But let me just explain.” Harry starts, not sitting down, which is making Louis even more nervous about the situation.

“Harry, I’m not mad. I’m just-disappointed. In myself. You have every right to go out and see whoever you want. Please, believe me when I tell you that I’m not mad or angry.”

Harry frowns. “Why are you disappointed in yourself?”

“Because-nevermind, it honestly doesn’t matter right now.”

“It does to me.”

Louis is silent as Harry takes the spliff from his fingers and sits down across from him.

“Listen to me, and then you can do whatever you want with the information, okay? I just owe it to you and myself to explain, so at least I know that I tried.” Harry tells him and Louis nods, urging him to continue. “Jack is an old family friend who’s also a chiropractor. I have back problems, it hurts sometimes, so I was just going to see him so he can massage it. And he thought it would be a good idea to do it again before he left. That’s all there is to it.”

There’s a huge wave of relief washing over Louis, but he doesn’t let it show.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Harry nods. “That’s all it is. He’s married, has a family-I would never go out with two people at once.”

Louis wants to take him and kiss him, but he can’t. When he heard what Nick said after the light show on Saturday, he felt so heartbroken that it scared the living shit out of him. And right now he’s even more scared because one person, one fucking person, who came into his life two months ago, can make him feel all kinds of emotions with only a few words. It’s scary and he doesn’t-he just can’t.

Harry has the power to single-handedly break Louis into a million pieces and also put him back together, and Louis doesn’t want someone to be able to do that, not now, not ever. If this is how he feels after just two months, he can’t even imagine what it would be like in a month, or a year.

“I know, I misunderstood. Thank you for telling me.” Louis concludes, smiling. “You can finish that if you want.”

Harry looks down at the spliff in his hand. The moon is shining on his face and Louis think he’s so beautiful that he has to take a break from looking at him. So he stands up and tells him that he has to go and find Zayn.

He finds Zayn, just to let him know that he’s feeling a bit under the weather and that he feels like he wants to go home.

“Don’t do this.” Zayn tells him. “Don’t do this to yourself. Why can’t you just allow yourself to be happy?”

“I am ha-“

“Bullshit Louis! This guy actually cares for you-you should’ve seen his face when you left him on Saturday. He was crushed, Louis. And now you’re not only in the way of your own happiness, but also his. He likes you, may even be falling for you, and you’re just scared. I know I’m harsh, but it’s how it is.”

“I just can’t take the risk of…I don’t know. I can’t Zayn.”

“You know you’re allowed to be happy and love, right?” Zayn asks, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“I know. But what if it doesn’t work out, what then?”

“But what if it does?”

Louis can’t really answer that.

“I don’t know. I need to go home, I’m tired.”

Zayn shakes his head. “Whatever you say.”

Louis hugs him and says goodbye to Liam, who’s been a witness to the entire conversation, before he’s out the door. The only way he knows to avoid a broken heart in the future is to not act on his feelings in the present. Which means, he has to stop thinking about Harry and in order to do that, he has to keep avoiding him.

★★★

It lasts him two days and thirteen hours. It’s not really that he _wants_ to see Harry, but he’s just all over the place. He opens his locker to take out his costume when he sees a brown paper bag in it. His heart starts beating faster as he takes it out and opens it to find a green smoothie and a packed croissaint with a note.

_I know it’s over even though it never started, but that doesn’t mean you should live off coffee and cigarettes before work. -H_

His whole body feels like it’s on fire, with fireworks going from the pit of his stomach all the way up to his throat.

“Fuck.” He says when he realizes.

“No swearing in the happiest place on Earth please.” Niall’s voice is heard and Louis turns around. He’s got the schedule for the day. And because Niall is on a whole other level of evil, he scheduled Cinderella and Peter Pan on Main Street.

“Thanks Niall.” Louis smiles.

“Ooh, you got yourself breakfast from La Confiserie? Fancy.” Niall gushes, before he walks over to Liam to hand him his own schedule.

Louis looks down at the schedule again. Then at the food on his bench.

“Fuck.”

The first thing he sees when he walks up to the meeting spot is Harry’s back as he talks to Nick, curls falling (almost) to his shoulders.

“Hey.” He says and Harry turns around, surprised.

“Hi.”

Nick’s smirking in the background but Louis tries to blatantly ignore him.

“Thanks for the breakfast. It was really nice of you.”

Harry shoots him a genuine smile that makes Louis feel all mushy inside.

“Two minutes people!” Gigi announces as she hurries over to them. There’s already a line behind the wall and Louis knows it’s time to put on a smile and act like he’s the happiest boy who never ages.

“Can we talk after?” he asks Harry, who’s busy putting on his black and gold Prince Charming suit.

“Yeah, I’d love that.” Harry sighs, smiling.

“Alright. See you out there.”

Louis walks around the wall and the kids are already screaming with excitement. Louis loves kids, and they’re here, from all around the world speaking to him in so many languages he can’t even understand.

There’s a little boy from America called Joey who asks him if he can wear his hat for a photo, and Louis melts. His older sister apologizes and her boyfriend tells him that he doesn’t have to do it.

“Of course you can.” He laughs, sparing a glance at Harry who’s busy twirling around with a little girl dressed like Cinderella.

Louis lifts Joey up into his arms and lets him take off his hat so he can put it on his own head.

“It’s too big!” Joey laughs, tilting his head back so he can look up at Louis from under his hat.

Louis chuckles. “Yeah, you’re going to grow into it.”

“But I don’t want to grow up! I want to stay five years old forever!” He pouts.

Louis looks over at Harry again, just to see him looking back, smiling.

“Yeah, me too.”

“Can I ask you something?” Joey whispers.

“Of course.” Louis whispers back, leaning in.

“Can we take a picture with Prince Charming too? I couldn’t decide between Cinderella and Peter Pan and Jess says we can’t wait in line for both.”

Louis’ heart starts beating faster. “Yeah, of course.”

He calls Harry over.

“Prince Harry!” Joey exclaims in excitement.

“Joey here wants to know if it’s okay to take a photo with both of us.” Louis explains.

Harry agrees in a split of a second and the older sister gets ready to take a photo from where she’s standing.

“Do you think we should also include Tinker Bell or Cinderella in the photo?” Harry asks Louis, eyes warm.

“They look busy.” Joey answers for Louis, who hoists him up so he can hold him better.

“Okay.” Harry laughs, still looking at Louis, who is trying to explain to Joey that princesses are busy leading the kingdom.

A flash goes of and none of them are ready, because Joey and Louis keep talking.

“Does the little one with the cheekbones know that the prince is in love with him?”

Louis turns his head, heart stopping, to look at the boyfriend, who probably thought that they couldn’t be heard from a few meters away. Louis doesn’t really, can’t really, understand.

“I sure hope he does.” Harry says and Louis turns to look at him over Joey’s head.

“What?” Louis blinks.

“If you love him then you have to give him a happily ever after kiss!” Joey exclaims, tugging on Harry’s suit.

Harry smiles and leans over to press a kiss to his lips, just as the flash goes off and Joey lets out a happy scream.

“This is the best day EVER!” he says when Louis places him back down. “Can we come tomorrow too? Pleaseee Jess pleaaaseee.” He begs his sister.

“I mean, we kind of have to, right? I’m thinking you’d like the pictures framed.” She tells Louis with a smile and a wink.

“Definitely.” Harry answers.

“Yay! Will you two be here tomorrow?” Joey asks them with hope in his eyes.

“Yes they will.”

Louis sees Niall and Shawn in the corner of the area by the wall, both with their arms crossed, and his heart sinks. They must’ve violated about three rules in the last five minutes.

Joey and his sister walk off because Niall calls them over. He asks Gigi and Perrie to take over for a few moments.

“Look, I know that the policy says what it says but the little guy-“ Louis starts.

“The policy is shit.” Niall interrupts him, taking Louis and Harry by surprise.

“What?”

“Shawn and I knew you two weren’t going to get your shit together unless we literally forbade you to.”

“That’s not true.” Louis retorts.

“Isn’t it? Didn’t Harry ask you out on the day we implemented that ‘rule’?” Shawn asks, making air quotes.

“Yeah…” Harry trails off.

“So you agree that once again Shiall saved the day.” Niall concludes.

Louis scoffs, not letting his guard down as per usual. “I mean I wouldn’t necessarily say-“

“He basically just admitted he’s falling for you and you’re over here trying to convince me about something irrelevant.” Shawn tells him.

“He’s kind of right.” Harry says and Louis looks at him. He’s trying to play it cool but he knows the fond is showing on his face. Fuck him, he’s screwed.

“Right about what?”

“About me, you know, kind of falling for you.” Harry shyly says and Louis is so endeared he could burst.

He takes a breath. “I’m kind of falling for you too, maybe.” He jokes and pushes at Harry’s chest when he sees him rolling his eyes with a smile. His eyes drift to Harry’s lips. “Definitely maybe.”

“Now kiss him you fool!” Niall exclaims, dying of anticipation.

So Harry does.

**Author's Note:**

> So I knoooooow the ending is cheesy but I couldn't help it! I hope you enjoyed reading it, and if you'd like, leave a comment below and tell me what you liked/didn't like :)


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